Stem Ginger substitute

Substitutes for Stem Ginger with ratios

1. 2Homemade stem ginger (fresh ginger simmered in syrup)

   Close match

   Use the same amount from 200g fresh ginger and 200g sugar

   Fresh root ginger peeled, sliced and poached in sugar syrup until translucent.

   What changes

   Best for

   any recipe calling for stem ginger and its syrup, ginger cake, cheesecake topping, gifts and batch baking

   Prep. Keeps for about a month covered in its syrup in a clean jar in the fridge. It is a fridge preserve, not a shelf-stable one, so do not treat it as a canning recipe.

   The only swap that gives you both the soft pieces and the spiced syrup, and it needs no special ingredients. Peel 200g of fresh ginger, slice it about 5mm thick, simmer it in water for 25 to 30 minutes until a knife goes through with no resistance, drain, then return it to the pan with 200g sugar and 200ml of the cooking water and simmer gently for another 30 minutes until the syrup thickens and the pieces look glassy. Choose the plumpest, smoothest, palest ginger you can find; older ginger with papery skin and visible fibres stays stringy no matter how long you cook it, and that is the one thing that will make the result feel different from a jar.

2. 3Ginger preserve, ginger jam or ginger marmalade

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight

   A set spreadable preserve made from ginger and sugar, often with shreds of ginger suspended in it.

   What changes

   Best for

   ginger cake, glazes for cake and ham, swirling into cheesecake or ice cream, replacing the jar syrup

   Prep. Warm briefly to loosen if you are brushing it on as a glaze, and sieve it if you want a clear shine.

   Flavour-wise this is very close, and a chunky ginger preserve even gives you small shreds of ginger. What changes is structure: it is a soft set jam, so instead of biting into distinct warm nuggets you get ginger flavour spread evenly through the crumb, and the cake reads as more uniformly spicy and slightly denser. It also carries more sugar and more water than an equal weight of drained stem ginger, so hold back a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of milk or water per 100g used. It is the best single answer when the recipe wants the jar syrup for a glaze.

3. 4Ground ginger (flavour only)

   Taste and texture differ

   Use ½ tsp ground for every 2 tbsp chopped stem ginger

   Dried ginger root milled to a fine powder.

   What changes

   Best for

   gingerbread, biscuits, spice cakes, when you only need the warmth

   Prep. Sift it in with the flour rather than adding it late, so it disperses instead of forming hot specks.

   Be clear about what this does and does not do. Drying changes ginger's chemistry, so ground ginger is less bright and lemony than fresh or preserved ginger and more dry, dusty and persistently hot at the back of the throat. It will make a cake taste convincingly of ginger and it costs nothing, but it contributes no chew, no moist pockets and no sweetness, so a ginger loaf made this way tastes flatter and more one-note, with none of the little bursts of soft ginger that make the original worth eating. Add a tablespoon of golden syrup or honey alongside it to put back some of the missing stickiness.

4. 5Grated fresh ginger plus a spoonful of sugar

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger plus 1 tbsp sugar for every 2 tbsp stem ginger

   Raw root ginger, finely grated on a microplane.

   What changes

   Best for

   sauces, poached fruit, quick puddings, stir-through creams

   Prep. Grate on a microplane, discarding any stringy pulp left behind on the blade.

   Fresh ginger is much sharper and more aggressively hot than preserved ginger, because candying tames the burn considerably, and it brings raw fibrous threads rather than tender pieces. In a cake batter that heat can taste harsh and slightly soapy. Where it works well is anywhere the ginger is going to cook in liquid, such as poached pears, a fruit compote or a sauce, because the simmering does the mellowing that the sugar syrup normally would. Grate it on the fine side of a microplane so no fibres survive, and add the sugar to account for what the syrup would have contributed.

5. 6Golden syrup, honey or light corn syrup (for the jar syrup only)

   Different taste

   Use the same amount for the syrup measurement, plus a pinch of ground ginger

   A thick neutral or lightly flavoured sugar syrup.

   What changes

   Best for

   brushing over ginger cake, soaking sponges, sweetening cream, drizzling over ice cream

   Prep. Warm gently with the ginger stirred in, then cool slightly before brushing so it soaks in rather than running off.

   Many recipes ask for the pieces and the syrup separately, and running out of one does not mean running out of the other. Golden syrup is the closest in body and has a faint caramel note that suits ginger cake well. Honey works but pushes the flavour towards floral. Neither carries any ginger, so stir in about an eighth of a teaspoon of ground ginger per tablespoon, or a teaspoon of finely grated fresh ginger if you want it brighter, and warm it briefly to let the flavour bloom into the syrup.