Baby Pink Ginger & Pink Peppercorn Syrup

When Lori from Downing Hollow Farm told me about the baby pink ginger she would have available at the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market this fall, I just had to try it. It is so pretty, nothing like the gnarled, tough, sawdust-colored root I've used before now. I thought it would be a perfect spicy addition to a quick simple syrup you can add to lemonade, fizzy water, or hot apple cider this fall.

Baby Pink Ginger & Pink Peppercorn Syrup

1 cup baby pink ginger (peeled, sliced thinly)
2 cups cold water
1 cup cane sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 Meyer lemon (halved)
20 pink peppercorns
a pinch of sea salt

Combine ginger, water, sugar, honey, lemon juice, both lemon halves, peppercorns, and salt in a sauce pan and get it to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and remove syrup from heat when it coats the back of a spoon. Let it cool, strain out the ginger, and then store syrup in a closed container the fridge for a couple of weeks.

*You should candy the ginger slices you used for the syrup after you strain them out! And you won't regret grating any leftover fresh baby ginger to use in this old favorite.