Homemade rosewater ginger beer and a blog challenge

I recently reached out to one of my favourite food bloggers Erika Raxworthy to see if she would like to partake in a little blog challenge. And yay! she said yes! I sent her some gorgeous picnic goodies from our shop and our task was to each create a fun picnic-themed recipe using some of the products. We will be sharing Erika’s creations on Thursday so keep an eye out.

I came up with an insanely refreshing (and much-easier-than-I-thought-it-would-be) recipe for homemade ginger beer perfumed with rosewater. It does take a couple of days to get fizzy so be sure to start it at least a few days before your picnic.

In these pics: Mason handle jar, pink chevron straws, milk bottle, blue floral paper straws, green striped bag (cut and secured around bottle), neon pink twine.

Homemade rosewater ginger beer

1/4 cup firmly packed finely grated fresh ginger

3/4 cup caster sugar

4 1/2 cups water

1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons rosewater

You will also need a clean  plastic 1.25 litre bottle. I just cleaned out a used soda water bottle.

Place the ginger, sugar and 1/2 cup of the water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside until cold, at least 1 hour. Strain your syrup into a jug, pressing on the ginger to release all of the liquid. Using a funnel, pour the ginger-flavoured syrup into the clean bottle. Add the yeast, lemon juice, rosewater and remaining water. Seal and shake to combine. Set aside at room temperature for 2-4 days, until fizzy. This will vary greatly depending on the temperature over this time and the age of the yeast etc. The best way to check is to just open the top every day and see if there is enough fizz. Don’t worry if it looks like water with floating bits at the bottom on the first couple of days as this will change. Once fizzy, store in the fridge for up to two weeks. Don’t leave it at room temperature once it has become fizzy as it may explode if too much carbonation builds up.

Makes 1.25 litres