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Caramelized Ginger: Cut a ginger root to fit into a plastic bowl with a lid.
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Cover the ginger root pieces in sherry.
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Let this sit until the ginger is fully soaked through with sherry, which can take a month or more.
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The ginger will be dark tan in color and firm and somewhat stringy in texture.
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It will be almost translucent.
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Remove the ginger root from the sherry and set the sherry aside for later.
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Cut the rind off of the ginger root and cut the inner portion into pieces about the size and thickness of 1/2 a dime.
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Put the small ginger pieces into a bowl and cover completely with sugar.
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I had about 1/4 cup of ginger and I put in about 3/4 cup of fine grained white sugar.
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Add back about 2 tablespoons of the sherry.
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The resulting mixture, with the ginger pieces in it, is a thickish but runny syrup.
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Put a mound of sugar (at least a cup) on a plate or in a small bowl and set it aside where you can reach it when you are standing at the stove.
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Cook the ginger/sugar/sherry mixture on the top of the stove until it boils but not until it darkens, (i. e., remove it from the heat before the sugar starts to burn).
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Stir a couple of times while the mixture is heating.
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Use a slotted spoon and remove the ginger pieces from the boiled liquid and plop them onto the sugar mound, keeping them separate from each other as much as possible.
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Spoon more granulated sugar over the top and let this sit for about 1 minute.
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Then stir the whole thing to coat the ginger with sugar.
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Let it sit for 5 minutes, then remove the ginger pieces and set them on a piece of baking paper to air dry.
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Gingered caramel: The boiled sherry/sugar stuff that's still in the pan can be boiled up again for about 30 seconds.
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Just as it starts to brown, remove it from the heat and add two or three tablespoons of butter.
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Let it cool for a few minutes and then pour the now very thick caramel onto more baking paper.
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This is fantastic caramel!
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Notes: This recipe starts with about 2 four inch pieces of ginger root and the yield is about 1/4 cup of caramelized ginger and about 1/3 cup of gingered caramel.
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I happened to have cooking sherry on hand so that is what I used.
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I had purchased two or three small (maybe 4 inches long) pieces of ginger root and I had not used them for anything.
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I had heard that you can soak your ginger in sherry to preserve it so I had cut the roots into 2 inch pieces, give or take, and covered them in sherry in a plastic bowl with a lid.
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I forgot about the ginger and it sat on my kitchen counter for 4 or 5 months.
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Possibly it would have been ready to caramelize a lot sooner than that but it was in perfect condition for this recipe after months of sitting.
