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Ginger beer is a type of carbonated beverage, flavored primarily with ginger, lemon and sugar. It originated in England in the mid 1700s, and it reached its peak of popularity in the early 1900s. The original recipe requires only ginger, sugar, and water, to which is added a gelatinous substance called "ginger beer plant". Fermentation over a few days turns the mixture into ginger beer. Lemon may be added.
Instead of using the ginger beer plant, some other form of live culture may be used to produce fermented (real) ginger beer. This is often baker's or brewer's yeast, but can also be a culture of lactic acid bacteria, kefir grains, or tibicos. Ginger beer is fizzy due to carbon dioxide. The alcohol content when produced by the traditional process can be high, up to 11%, although it is possible to ferment ginger beer in such a way as to produce little alcohol.
Ginger beer was first brewed in the 1700s, and the brewed, alcoholic, drink became very popular in Britain and North America, with 3000 breweries in Britain, 300 in the U.S. (which had been affected by the Prohibition Laws), and 1000 in Canada in 1935.
The beverage produced industrially today is often not brewed (fermented). Such ginger beer is carbonated with pressurized carbon dioxide, and does not contain alcohol. Ginger beer is similar to ginger ale except that it is more strongly flavored. In addition, it may be cloudy, while ginger ale is clear.
Ginger beer may be mixed with beer (usually a British ale of some sort) to make one type of shandy, and with Gosling's Black Seal rum to make a drink, originally from Bermuda, called a Dark and Stormy.
Ginger beer plant
Ginger beer plant (GBP) is a gelatinous substance which is a symbiotic mixture of microorganisms which must contain the yeast Saccharomyces florentinus and the bacterium Lactobacillus hilgardii. The GBP was first described by Harry Marshall Ward in 1892Original ginger beer is made by leaving water, sugar, ginger, and GBP to ferment. Some modern sources and yeast-based recipes speak of GBP, but it is just a simple yeast culture rather than the original. The original may be found from several commercial sources or from yeast banks [http://www.dsmz.de/strains/no002484.htm.
There is an active Yahoo discussion group dedicated to "the real traditional Ginger Beer Plant"and members of that group may share excess plant material. A recipe and commercial source may be found at [http://www.fermentedtreasures.com/gingerbp.html.
See also
Ginger Beer in Cockney rhyming slang
In Cockney rhyming slang Ginger Beer is used to refer to gay people - Ginger Beer = Queer - it is usually shortened to just Ginger ie 'he's a ginger' = he's a queer
External links and references
- Making Ginger Beer(Ale) At Home
- A detailed presentation on the modern revival of the Ginger Beer Plant
- Simple Ginger Beer Recipe
- Root Beer and Ginger Beer heritage
- Ginger Beer plant information
- Ginger beer plant in New Scientist magazine, issue 2362, 28 September 2002, page 50 (available online to subscribers only).
- Polysaccharide produced by ß-Bacterium vermiformé (PDF)
- Reviews and recipes
- DSMZ ginger beer plant culture
- Fermented Treasures ginger beer plant culture
- Of the Street Sale of Ginger-Beer, Sherbet, Lemonade,&C., from London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 1, Henry Mayhew, 1851; subsequent pages cover the costs and income of street ginger beer sellers.
"Ginger beer"