Gnamankoudji

Ingredients

The ginger

• 400 gfresh ginger
• mature and fibrous
• roughly chopped
• this is a fierce drink

The liquid

• 1.5 litreswater
• boiled and cooled
• or filtered water

The sweetening

• 250 gsugar
• or to taste
• the heat needs it

The flavouring

• juice of 3 lemons
• or 4 limes
• 1 teaspoonvanilla extract
• or a vanilla pod
• a pinch of salt
• a few mint leaves, optional

Equipment

• a blender
• a fine sieve and muslin
• clean bottles
• or small plastic sachets
• a freezer

Directions

1. Use mature ginger rather than young. Look for firm plump rhizomes. Reduce it if you want a gentler drink. Chop the ginger roughly. Put it in a blender with about half the water.
2. Blend it for a full two or three minutes. So blend it beyond the point it looks done. Work in batches if the motor labours. Add enough water to keep it moving.
3. Pour the pulp and water into a large bowl. Add the remaining water. Cover it and leave it to steep. Give it at least four hours. Line a sieve with muslin over a large bowl. Pour the mixture through. Squeeze out every drop you can.
4. Return the pulp to the bowl. Add half a litre more water. Work it with your hands. Strain and squeeze it again. Wash your hands after squeezing. Do not rub your eyes.
5. Add it gradually and taste as you go. Stir until every grain has dissolved. It should be clearly sweet on the front. Adjust it carefully. Add the lemon or lime juice generously. Use extract, or scrape a pod into the mixture.
6. Pour it into clean bottles or a jug. Refrigerate it for at least three hours. Pour it into small bags, bottles or ice cube trays. Freeze it until slushy or solid. That slushy texture is genuinely better than plain cold. Keep it refrigerated or frozen.
7. Use clean bottles and clean utensils. Drink it within three or four days if refrigerated. Discard it if it fizzes or smells fermented. Anyone taking such medication should ask a doctor. Serve it very cold, over ice or half frozen. Shake it before pouring. It keeps four days refrigerated.

Technique

• This is meant to burn. Four hundred grams of mature ginger to a litre and a half is deliberate, and the strength is the point rather than an accident. Reduce it if you want, but you are then making a different drink.
• Use mature fibrous ginger, not young pink-tipped ginger, which is juicier and milder. Heat is what this drink is for.
• Blend for a full two or three minutes, beyond the point it looks done. Ginger fibre holds its juice tightly and a short blend leaves most of the flavour in the pulp.
• Steep at least four hours and preferably overnight. It keeps strengthening as it stands, so do not judge the balance before it has steeped — and steep it refrigerated in warm weather, or wild fermentation starts.
• Get the sweet-then-burn sequence right. It should read clearly sweet at the front with the ginger arriving after; under-sweetened it is simply painful and over-sweetened the burn disappears.
• Do a second extraction — return the pulp, add half a litre of water, work it and strain again. It yields a surprising amount and makes the ginger go considerably further.
• Wash your hands after squeezing the pulp and do not rub your eyes. Ginger juice stings cut skin and irritates eyes badly.
• Vanilla is characteristic of the Ivorian version and does real work, rounding the harsh edge of the ginger into something fuller.
• Serve it half frozen rather than merely cold. The slushy texture is genuinely better, and it is how the drink is sold — in small heat-sealed sachets frozen solid, with a corner bitten off. Those sachets are also a documented plastic waste problem that several countries have restricted.
• This is unpasteurised and never heated, so it is not preserved. Keep it refrigerated or frozen, use clean bottles, and discard it if it fizzes or smells fermented.
• A very concentrated ginger drink can irritate the stomach in quantity, and an interaction with blood-thinning medication is sometimes noted, on limited evidence mostly concerning supplements. The atlas records that the question exists and leaves it to a doctor.
• The atlas holds a separate entry for the Central African ginger juice, which shares the method. This version is stronger, sweeter, lemon-forward and vanilla-scented — the atlas states the differences rather than repeating the whole recipe.

Substitutions

• Lime replaces lemon and is used interchangeably.
• A vanilla pod scraped into the mixture replaces extract and is better.
• Honey replaces sugar, stirred in cold.
• Less ginger makes a gentler drink closer to the Central African version.
• Mint gives a cooling counterpoint and is added in some versions.
• A concentrated syrup, diluted to order, keeps far longer than the finished drink.

Variations

• Ginger juice in the Central African Republic is the gentler relative of the same drink.
• Bissap, made from dried hibiscus, is the other great cold drink sold the same way.
• Jus de bouye, from baobab fruit, is thicker and creamier.
• A lightly fermented version, started with pineapple skin, becomes gently fizzy.
• Caribbean ginger beer is the fermented relative and is often stronger still.
• A version blended with pineapple juice is popular across West Africa.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gnamankoudji?

Gnamankoudji is a drink from Côte d’Ivoire: fiery fresh ginger juice sweetened with sugar and lemon.

How long does Gnamankoudji take to make?

Gnamankoudji takes 20 minutes plus steeping of preparation and none of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 1.5 litres. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Gnamankoudji?

Yes, within limits. Lime replaces lemon and is used interchangeably. A vanilla pod scraped into the mixture replaces extract and is better. Honey replaces sugar, stirred in cold. Less ginger makes a gentler drink closer to the Central African version. Mint gives a cooling counterpoint and is added in some versions. A concentrated syrup, diluted to order, keeps far longer than the finished drink.

What is the most important thing to get right in Gnamankoudji?

Use mature ginger rather than young. Look for firm plump rhizomes. Reduce it if you want a gentler drink. Chop the ginger roughly. Put it in a blender with about half the water.