Honey is wonderful until you try to stir it into an iced drink. Then it sinks, clings to the spoon, and leaves the top of the glass tasting plain.
Ginger honey syrup fixes that, and it’s the easiest recipe to start with. Simmer sliced fresh ginger with equal parts honey and water for 5 minutes, let it steep for 30, strain, and you have a warm, peppery syrup that mixes into cold tea, lemonade, sparkling water, cocktails, and mocktails. In fall it’s just as good stirred into a hot mug of tea or cider.
You get the warmth of fresh ginger and the round sweetness of honey in one small refrigerator bottle that makes weekday drinks easier. It’s only ginger, water, and honey.
At a Glance
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Prep time | 5 minutes |
| Cook and steep time | 5 minutes simmering, 30 minutes steeping |
| Yield | About 15 servings |
| Flavor | Warm ginger, soft honey |
| Best uses | Tea, lemonade, sparkling water, whiskey drinks, mocktails |
| Storage | Refrigerator, about 1 month |
Why Make Honey Syrup
Plain honey is thick. That’s part of its charm, but it’s also why it won’t blend into cold drinks.
Honey syrup is honey loosened with liquid. Bartenders use it because it pours and measures more easily than straight honey. This version puts ginger in the water, so the syrup brings flavor along with sweetness.
Ingredients
- 3 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup water
Use a mild honey if you want the ginger to lead. Clover, wildflower, orange blossom, and light local honey all work. Strong buckwheat honey can be good, but it takes over.
Make the Syrup
Peel the ginger and slice it thin. Combine the ginger, honey and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir now and then until the honey dissolves, and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and let the syrup cool and infuse for at least 30 minutes, stirring once in a while. The longer it sits, the gingerier it gets.
Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and discard the ginger. Pour into a clean bottle or jar and refrigerate.
How to Use It
For hot tea, use 1 to 2 teaspoons per mug.
For iced tea or lemonade, use 1 tablespoon per glass, then adjust. Ginger can sneak up on you, especially after the syrup sits overnight.
For sparkling water, combine 1 tablespoon syrup, 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice, and 6 to 8 ounces sparkling water over ice.
For cocktails, try it in whiskey sours, bourbon lemonades, hot toddies, dark rum drinks, gin sours, and tequila highballs. For mocktails, pair it with lemon, lime, grapefruit, mint, basil, pear, peach, or black tea. In fall, stir a spoonful into hot apple cider.
Storage
Keep the syrup in a clean bottle or jar in the refrigerator, where it holds for about a month. It may thicken slightly when cold, so shake before using. For longer storage, freeze it in ice cube trays and move the cubes to a freezer bag.
If it smells fermented, grows mold, or fizzes, throw it out. This is a refrigerator syrup, not a shelf-stable preserve.
Honey should not be given to children under 1 year old. That applies here too.
Easy Variations
Ginger lime honey syrup: Skip the lemon and use lime juice in the glass.
Extra-hot ginger syrup : Slice a little more ginger into the pot and let it steep longer.
My Favorite Glass
Add 1 tablespoon ginger honey syrup and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to a glass of ice. Top with cold sparkling water and stir.
It tastes like ginger lemonade without the work, which is why I keep making it.
