What is Switchel?

What is Switchel? You may ask...some may already know...some may like or dislike, however, I think it cannot be denied that it is good for you.

Switchel is "Switchel, switzel, swizzle, switchy, ginger-water or haymaker's punch is a drink made of water mixed with vinegar, and often seasoned with ginger. It is usually sweetened with molasses, though honey, sugar, brown sugar, or maple syrup are sometimes used instead." According to Wikipedia.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way.  My sister-in-law brought some for Thanksgiving (thanks Margo) and she's mentioned it before and thought Jesse and I would like it.  It does have a kombucha-like quality to it, but different, especially if you use flat water as opposed to sparkling or club soda or seltzer.  We've experiment with all, even added lemon seltzer.

Ingredients:  Fresh ginger peeled and sliced, about 1/4 cup

2-ish cups of water

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (we always use Bragg's)

Most recipes call for 1/2 cup + of honey. I am not into too much sweetness so I have cut the honey down to 2 tablespoons (but you can do what you like)

Sparkling, flat, club, seltzer to finish, about 2 cups

Recipe:  If you LIKE ginger, boil the sliced pieces in 2-ish cups of water and let cool. Or you can leave the sliced ginger in water standing on the counter for a few hours. I always leave the ginger pieces in the finished product, but you can strain out.

Add honey to warm ginger water, let cool.  Add apple cider vinegar and more water to finish to your liking.

Keeps in the fridge for about 5 days, however, if you are like us, it's gone by nightfall.