I remember I disliked my grand parents’ lollies when I was little. They used to have ginseng candies, candied ginger, herb drops, all these non-kids-friendly flavours. I couldn’t stand the smell of them. But now I’ve all grown up. Obviously my taste buds have changed (matured rather) and I really enjoy bitter, earthy, tart and astringent taste.
I had a little bag of dark ginger chocolate from Coco Black, a famous chocolate place in Melbourne, a couple of weeks ago. My obsession starts – when I like something from the restaurants or cafes or shops, I tend to find a healthier way of making it and trialing at home. I tempted to replicate those chocolate balls at home though using candied ginger bought from the supermarket seems to have heaps of sugar and preservatives in them >.< After searching online and visiting a couple of blogs I discovered it is not that hard to make sugar-free and healthy candied ginger at home. Yay! I went down to the shop this morning and got a beautiful young ginger root as big as my hand. I had a big grin on my face, so glad to find it since they sometimes have dry and tough ginger at the shops. It was so soft and juicy inside. I didn’t even have to peel the skin. So I just used the back of the knife to scrap off dirt a little and sliced them up. Put slices of ginger, water and honey (1:1 ratio) in the pot and boil for about 40 minutes. Strained them, coated with coconut flour, baked on the rack for about 20 minutes to dehydrate them. The result is amazing! mmm..the whole house smells like ginger while cooking. Little bites are chewy, gingery and has subtle sweetness from honey. No sickening sugar taste! Awesome! Only one thing that I’m not happy about? I bought a huge ginger (about 250g) and it ended up a small handful of candied ginger as they shrink a lot. I want more!!!!
