Gingery Goodness

Day 153: An old recipe for jugged hare comes to mind: "Fyrst, catch ye an hare..." Get yourself some fresh ginger, enough to make two cups when cut into small chunks. Peel it, ignoring the arthritic objections from your old hands. Cut it up. Freeze it overnight. In the morning, dump it into a pan of water to cover it by about an inch and boil it for half an hour. Drain it. Add fresh boiling water and cook it again for about two hours. Drain it, reserving this second batch of liquid. Combine 2 1/2 cups of the liquid with 3 cups of sugar. Sugar? Oh crap, I'm out of sugar. How did that happen? And I was just at the grocery store yesterday! Okay, combine 2 1/2 cups of the ginger liquid with 2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar and 3/4 cups of brown sugar. Bring it to a boil, and then simmer it for about 40 minutes until it makes a syrupy drizzle on a chilled plate. Add the ginger. Bring it back to the boil and simmer for another 40 minutes. While all this is happening, sterilize four one-cup jars and accordant lids and rings. When the ginger is done cooking, decant it into the jars, seal them and process them in a boiling-water bath for 15 minutes. You'll have syrup left over, but that's good in tea, cookies, cake, Chinese food, or if you have any energy left at all, you could add some apples or pears and turn it into jelly/jam. Have at it. Me, I'm going to go sit down.