Ginger Cinnamon Syrup and Migraines.

Every time I go grocery shopping, I compulsively pick up a ginger root without even thinking twice. By the time I’m at the checkout line unloading the cart, I stumble across at least one, sitting right up where your child is supposed to be, nestled quietly underneath my purse. Ever since hitting puberty, I’ve suffered from terrible migraines. Terrible, terrible migraines. I’ve even had two ct-scans to make sure I don’t have anything funky goin’ on upstairs (insert joke here). I’ve been prescribed special medications to take care of them, I’ve also ended up at the hospital with a needle or two in my ass to make them stop. In 2010, Rain and I were in a pretty bad car accident that involved a moose landing on my head, so that obviously didn’t help much with the achy noggin’ spells either. Awful stuff, migraines. Headaches more often than not are due to dehydration… and can usually be taken care of by upping your water intake, believe it or not. However, mine aren’t from that. I usually have at least 3 beverages on the go, and I very rarely drink pop/soda, or sugary pre-packaged drinks (I include juice crystal packets in that). If I do have pop, it’s ginger ale… or in a blue moon, root beer. One of the only things that help with my migraines, is usually gravol to be honest. I get extremely nauseated when I feel my head starting to go, so at the first sign of one coming on, if I pop an anti-nauseant… it usually takes the edge off enough to help me cope and nap until the brunt of my brain-hurricane wears off. Whenever I feel just plain nauseated however, I just cut a hunk of ginger root off, peel it, chew it up and swallow it. Presto, no more wanting to hurl. This is a little extreme for a lot of folks, as ginger root is considered by most to be fairly hot. So, yesterday I decided to try an experiment. I couldn’t really find any recipes online, so I just went by what I thought made the most sense. I made a ginger extract, coupled it with some cinnamon, then doused the fire with a simple syrup. I also added some lemon juice to up the pH, as ginger rates as between  5.5 to 6.5, fresh.. therefore rendering it safe to can or store. Plus, I mean, ginger+cinnamon+lemon+sweet = your taste buds being tickled absolutely pink. It’s a pretty versatile syrup. You could use it for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, marinades, cook it longer to make a candy, add it to your baking… I mixed 2-3 tbsp in to club soda tonight at had home made ginger ale. I had an abomination of a headache today, so terrible, that when I tried to have a bit of supper I was sick to my stomach. Rain mixed me up that ginger ale, and within half an hour I was able to eat. This is a wonderful thing to have on hand. You don’t need to make the amount that I did, just make up enough to store in a jar or bottle in your fridge if you want. It’s really quite marvellous, exquisite to look at, and your house will smell ravishing as you’re cooking it.

This is exactly how I did mine. You could certainly do yours in a lesser quantity.

Cinnamon Ginger Syrup

Ingredients:

• 2 large ginger roots (peeled, they came to 1 1/4 lbs)
• 2 six inch pieces of cinnamon, broken in two to make four pieces
• an equal amount of sugar to how far down you cook your remaining extract (ex. 6 cups sugar to 6 cups fluid)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice per cup of extract fluid (ex. 6 tbsp for 6 cups fluid)

Method:

1. Peel your ginger, and with a sharp knife, slice as thin as possible.
2. In a large pot (man a lot of my recipes start with that), add 14 cups of water, then add your ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low/medium. Keep it at a low boil for 2 hours.
3. After 2 hours, strain your liquid in to a big ol’ bowl.

   The extracted water/ginger/cinnamon after 2 hours of boiling, with the reflection of my kitchen window and one of my (many) plants. Neat, eh?

   Now add 12 cups of water back in to your pot. Re-add your ginger, and following the previous step, bring to a boil then reduce heat. Low boil for 1 1/2 hours.

4. You guessed it, after an hour and a half, follow the previous step, straining the liquid. Add 10 cups of water to your pot, and boil your ginger for 1 more hour. All these boils are necessary, to remove all the flavour from the ginger and in to your water. After 1 hour, strain and discard your now damn near flavourless ginger, and cinnamon sticks.
5. Add all of your saved liquid together in your pot, and cook down until you’ve reached your desired spiciness. Mine I cooked down to 6 cups worth, and it was seriously spicy.. but then, I like very spicy foods. Like I always say, you need to taste test.
6. Add all of your sugar, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil while stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Don’t over boil or you will end up with candy or a solid when it cools. After 3 minutes, add your lemon juice. As I said, I ended up with 6 cups of extract, so I added 6 tbsp of lemon juice. Stir, and then ladle in to hot, sterile jars (or your receptacle of choice), and if preserving for storage, process by water bath canning method for 10-15 minutes, adjusting for altitude.

While we’re on the topic of ginger, let me list you a few of the things it is known to be good for: Cataracts, amenorrhea, heart disease, migraines, stroke, angina, athlete’s foot, colds, bursitis, chronic fatigue, tendinitis, flu, coughs, depression, dizziness, fever, erectile difficulties, infertility, kidney stones, Raynaud’s disease, sciatica, and viral infections. In other words: most people should include more ginger in to their diet.

Cinnamon? I’ll save for another day.