Warm, zesty, yum!

That about sums up homemade crystalized ginger.  I combined two recipes and am delighted with this spunky treat that can garnish everything from soup and eggs to cookies and ice cream!

To prepare the slices of ginger, I followed this recipe (we used toothpicks to punch the holes).
After the ginger slices were prepared, I followed this recipe.

So...
1. Pick good ginger and only use the smooth, straight sections.
2. Slice in into 1/8in pieces.
3. Tenderize with lots of pokes of a toothpick or corn cob skewer.
4. Place in 5 cups of water, cover, cook for 35 minutes on medium-high heat.
5. Drain (save 1/4 cup of the liquid) and then weigh the ginger.
6. Return ginger and the same weight of sugar to the pan with the 1/4 cup of liquid.
7. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and watch like a hawk.  Lots of stirring.
8. About 20 minutes later, the water will have dried up and you'll have the dry, crystalized ginger with lots of sugar around it.  You want to pull it off before it starts getting caramelized and having a burnt flavor.
9. Spread the pieces out on the cooling rack.
10. Some recipes say it lasts months in an airtight container, but we'll see.  Save both the ginger and the sugar that falls through for fun treats :)

Two containers of goodness!