Filipino Salabat: Soothing Fresh Ginger Tea with Brown Sugar, Honey and Calamansi

Leave the ginger skin on if it is thin and clean, or scrape it off with a spoon. Slice the ginger into thin coins, then lightly crush the coins with the flat of a knife to release their juices.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 large hand of fresh ginger (about 5 ounces / 150 g), scrubbed
• 5 cups (1.2 liters) water
• 1/4 cup (50 g) dark brown or muscovado sugar, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 pandan leaf, knotted (optional)
• 1 small cinnamon stick (optional)
• 4 calamansi limes, halved, or 1 regular lime cut into wedges
• Pinch of fine salt
• Extra honey and thin ginger slices, to serve

Instructions

1. Leave the ginger skin on if it is thin and clean, or scrape it off with a spoon. Slice the ginger into thin coins, then lightly crush the coins with the flat of a knife to release their juices.
2. Put the ginger, water, pandan leaf and cinnamon stick (if using) in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by about a fifth and tastes pleasantly fiery; simmer longer for a stronger, more medicinal brew.
4. Stir in the brown sugar and the pinch of salt until dissolved, then remove from the heat and stir in the honey (adding it off the heat keeps its floral flavor).
5. Taste and adjust: more sugar for a sweeter tea, a splash more water if it is too intense.
6. Strain into mugs, squeeze in the juice of one calamansi per cup and drop the spent half into the mug.
7. Serve hot with a drizzle of extra honey and a slice of fresh ginger, or cool, strain and refrigerate the concentrate for up to a week and reheat by the cup.
8. Salabat is what Filipino parents reach for at the first sign of a scratchy throat or a cold rainy morning, and it is traditionally served warm alongside bibingka and puto bumbong after the dawn masses of the Christmas season. Made from nothing more than fresh ginger simmered until golden and sweetened with muscovado and a squeeze of sour calamansi, it is a warming, caffeine-free drink that belongs on the stove every November afternoon.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 95 kcal
• Protein: 0g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 24g
• Fiber: 0g
• Sugar: 21g
• Sodium: 45mg