The recipe
- 8 ozCold water240 ml
- ¾ ozMolasses24 ml
- 2½ tspVinegar (cider vinegar)12 ml
- ¼–½ tspGround ginger
How to make it
- 1Stir the molasses into the water until it dissolves.
- 2Whisk in the vinegar and ginger.
- 3Chill well and serve cold.
Variations: Maple syrup, honey or brown sugar can replace the molasses. The Old Farmer’s Almanac mixes 1½ cups molasses, ⅓ cup cider vinegar and 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger into a gallon of water.
Scaled from Hall’s batch (five gallons of water, half a gallon of molasses, a quart of vinegar, 2 oz powdered ginger) to one cup of water: molasses a tenth of the water, vinegar a twentieth, ginger about 0.7 g. Hall doesn’t name the vinegar; cider vinegar is the usual choice.
The ratio
20 : 2 : 1
In parts, a Switchel is 20 water, 2 molasses and 1 cider vinegar. Change one part and you have a cousin; the closest are below.
Built the same way
Head to head
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