General Chat

I remember as a child making ginger beer with something that had been passed onto me from a friend you had to add water and what I think was ground ginger (powder) and you keep't topping it up, does anyone remember this! I was told it was called a Ginger Beer Plant!

I remember having one years ago. You fed it each day with 1tsp sugar + 1tsp ground ginger.

Ahh more memories lol Yes I remember Mam having ginger beer plant on kitchen windowsill, beer tasted lovely! ;O)

* Also anyone remember The Friendship Cake? You made it and passed on a slice (with yeast?) and recipe.

Mau xx

Ginger Beer Plant

Ingredients

25g Dry yeast (50g of fresh)
2tbsp ground ginger
2tbsp caster sugar
½pt (300ml) water
Method

If you are using dry yeast, stir the yeast in with ¼ pint (150ml) of lukewarm water and a bit of sugar. Leave this mixture for 10-15 mins. If you are using fresh yeast, which you can procure from certain bakers, you can skip this process.

Mix the wettened yeast with the sugar until they cream to form a liquid. Then add the ground ginger and water. If you used dry yeast then use only ¼pt (150ml) of water. Stir this mixture well and pour it into a jar with a loose-fitting lid, so as to let the mixture breathe. Now leave this mixture in a cool place.

The next day, and each day thereafter, add 1 level tsp (5ml) of ground ginger and the same amount of caster sugar to your jar and stir the mixture thoroughly.

After 10 days. dissolve 18oz (500g) of caster sugar and 1½pt (900ml) of water, bring this mix to the boil and let it cool slightly. Add the strained juice of two lemons to the water.

Strain your ginger plant through fine muslin and add the strained liquid to the sugar and lemon juice mixture, along with 6pt (3.4l)water.

Stir the mixture well and bottle it straight away in strong screw-topped bottles, like those in which you would store cider or beer. Make sure you store the bottles in a cool place for about two weeks before you drink it. This is essential!

To Make More Ginger Beer

Halve the sediment left on the muslin and divide it into two separate jars. Add ½pt (300ml) water, 2tsps (10ml) and 2tsps (10ml) caster sugar to each jar. Stir it well and continue the same process as before for ten days.

This means that the produce is doubled every ten days.

.................

Carol, I think it was passed to me once it was divided, I can remember habving to add something!




I found this recipe on Google.


2 litre bottle of still mineral water
large chunk of root ginger (you need 1½ to 2 tablespoons of grated ginger)
1 lemon
1 cup of sugar
¼ teaspoon of dried yeast
You’ll also need a grater to grate the ginger, and a plastic funnel.


You need a two litre bottle to make the ginger beer in, and London tap water isn’t the nicest in the world. So I spared no expense and spent 18p on a bottle of Sainsbury’s Still Table Water and killed two birds with one stone. If you already have a clean two litre bottle, and your tap water is ok, then feel free to use that. Or try a nice expensive mineral water if that sort of thing tickles your fancy.


1) Lay all your ingredients out to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.

2) Realise you’ve forgotten the yeast, so get that too.

3) Decant the water into a suitable temporary container (skip this step if you are using tap water)

4) Using a plastic funnel, pour the sugar into the bottle. (if you don’t have a funnel fashion one out of paper )

5) Add the dried yeast to the bottle.

6) Now, grate the ginger until you have between 1½ and 2 tablespoon’s worth. I used 2 tablespoons because I really like ginger, but feel free to vary this according to your tastes. Also, you may wish to cut the skin off before grating.

7) Next, extract the juice from one lemon.

8 ) Mix the grated ginger and lemon juice together in a cup or other suitable piece of crockery.

9) Next you need to add the ginger/lemon mixture to the bottle. This is where a plastic funnel comes in really handy. for some reason paper funnels don’t work so well once wet.

10) Now, you need to add the water to the bottle. Fill it up until it is about ¾ full, then put the cap on and shake the bottle until all the sugar is dissolved.

11) You then need to top the bottle up until there is approximately a one inch gap at the top. This gap is to prevent explosions once the yeast gets to work.

12) Put the cap on the bottle as tightly as you can, then place the bottle somewhere warm. You’ll need to leave it for 24-48hours to let the yeast go to work. Once the bottle is very hard, and can’t be squeezed, the ginger beer is done.

13) Place the bottle in the fridge overnight. This halts the yeast and stops the bottle exploding. You really don’t want to leave that bottle in a warm place for any longer than 48 hours.

14) Once the ginger beer is chilled, pour it into a glass and enjoy. I sieve mine when pouring so I don’t have any lumps of ginger in the drink.

And there you have it. 2 litres of delicious ginger beer for around 90p and very little effort.

Warning... I put it in bottles with corks, the first time then put it in a warm cupboard. A few nights later it sounded like war had broken out... popping corks + 1 exploding bottle!

So cold storage + screwtop bottles.

I have heard of Friendship cake but don't think I have ever tried it....receipes are on google.

Mums first plant was given to her by one of the women who came down from London, for hop picking. They lived in huts on the farm.

I remember going hopping when I was very small, we went to Goudhurst, we travelled in the back of my Uncle's Lorry (he worked for Sunlight Laundy) and got in trouble for using it.
Remember people sleeping in huts, but I sleep't in a bell tent with my grandad.
Hopping was horrible really ,unless you were used to living an outdoor life, like the Gypsy Travellers, it could be hard to keep clean with shared toilets, limited water and few washing facilities. Londoners also weren't used to the bugs and creatures of the countryside. Picking hops was hard on your hands and accidents happened quite often.

Now some say hopping's lousy
I don't believe it's true,
We only go down hopping
To pick a hop or two
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now when I went a hopping,
Hopping down in Kent,
I saw old Mrs Riley,
A-sweeping out her tent
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now every Monday morning,
Just at six o'clock,
You'll hear old hoppers calling:
Get up and boil your pot.
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now Sunday is our washing day,
Don't we wash it clean.
We boil it in our hopping pots
And hang it on the green
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now do you want any money?
Yes, sir, if you please
To buy a hock of bacon,
A pound of mouldy cheese
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now here comes our old measurer,
With his long nose and chin,
With his ten gallon basket,
And don't he pop 'em in!
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now when our old pole-puller,
He does come around,
He says: Come on you dirty ol'hop pickers,
Pick 'em off the ground
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

Now hopping is all over,
All the money spent,
And don't we wish I never,
Went a-hopping down in Kent!
With a tee-I-ay, tee-I-ay, tee-I-ee-I-ay.

I was born ‘the day the hoppers went back’, on an East Sussex hop farm owned by Guinness, so just the smell of hops takes me back to my childhood.
I have started writing about my memories of that childhood, but as yet it is just a lot of odd thoughts. Every year we looked forward to those children arriving, as they lived in a totally different ‘world’ to us. They thought we talked funny & would tease us & I must admit that I do remember teasing ‘the townies’, with the green caterpillars that lived on the hops.
I have promised my Grandchildren that they can have some of my homemade veg. soup for tea, so I must get going on it as they will be here soon.
Bye for now.

LOL Christine........was that before the start of W.Watchers? ;O) xx

Friendship cake starter recipe
Use a large mixing bowl

1 cup (250g/8oz) SR flour
1 cup (300g/10 fl oz or half pint) milk
1/2 cup (125g/4 oz)sugar
2 tsp dried active yeast

NB. I normally use a normal mug

Mix all together then leave 2 days

Continue as below

IF MIXTURE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO YOU

Day 1 - Place in a large mixing bowl and cover with a tea towel
Day 2 - Leave well alone
Day 3 - FEED - 1 cup (250g/8oz) SR flour
1 cup(300g/10 fl oz/half pint) milk
1/2 cup (125g/4 oz) sugar
stir and cover
Day 4 - Stir and cover
Day 5 - Stir and cover
Day 6 - Divide into 3 parts, give 1 or 2 away
Day 7 - ADD to 1 part - 2 cups (500g/8oz) SR flour
3/4 cup (180mls/5ish fl oz)Vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed spice
2 beaten eggs
1 cup(250g/4oz) sugar

Mix well and bake in 2lb (1kg) loaf tin 11/2 - 2 hours

Gas 2
250 -300 F
140 C

Fruit & Nut Friendship Cake
Ingredients
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup (250g/8oz) sugar
2 cups (500g/16oz) Plain flour
2/3 cup (100g/2.5fl oz) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup(250g/8oz) chopped apples
3 cups (750g/24 oz) starter
1 cup(250g/8oz) raisins or chopped nuts
1 egg plus 2 egg whites

Method/Procedure

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. In another large bowl mix starter, egg and whites, sugar, oil and vanilla. Add flour mixture, apples and raisins or nuts. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at Gas 4, 180¡C, 350¡F for an hour. Cool, then dust with icing sugar.

This recipe can be adapted to taste you could try any combination of fruit and nuts as long as the total equals 2 cups (500g/16oz).


Looking at recipe now,it seems way too much bother! lol
........was a nice cake though :O)

Homemade food always fills children up quicker doesn't it? and it's cheaper.

A friend and I went to WW ( about ahem 30 years ago).......we thought we were fat! but they wouldn't let us enroll, said we were underweight!! Wish I was now!! lol :O(

Mau xx

Heed the warning -or use plastic bottles! It's an awful mess to clean up ..been there -done that!

I remember the gingerbeer plant - I think I will save the recipes and try to make some next summer.
Thanks,
Lizx

Bookmarking for Gingerbeer recipe

Is it okay to put the ginger beer into plastic drink bottles?
I made it years ago from the plant and would put it in glass bottles.
I hated operning the bottle because of the "explosion" that would happen.
My children have been asking for ages for me to make some again.
I don't like the supermarket flavoured ginger beer.
Sue x

I had a ginger beer plant, and gave some to my late FIL He made it and loved it, until one day such an explosion, and their kitchen was full of smashed glass and ginger beer all over the ceiling.

Dont think MIL let him make it anymore.

I cant remember what happened to the one I had, unless OH made me throw it away because he did not want an explosion in our house, and his decorating would have been spoiled.

Mo

Mo