Ivorian Ginger Juice

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I was first introduced to jus gingembre, or Ivorian ginger juice, when living in Côte d’Ivoire. As a Haitian, I am much more familiar with ginger tea, but ginger juice is a popular drink among many other Caribbean, West and East African countries. At first, I happily paid the 200CFA (~0.33$) for this refreshingly spicy drink. But the day came where I had to make it myself because I knew that I wanted to take this recipe back to the states. Here’s what I learned along the way:

Why Ginger Juice

Ginger juice is good for many aspects of your health. The many benefits to ginger juice are supported by the ingredients. The star, of course, being ginger itself. Drinking one glass of ginger juice a day will help with digestion, improve your immunity, and even lead to healthier skin. Pure ginger juice, in my opinion, can be a bit jarring in taste, but with a few extra ingredients, it becomes one of the tastiest drinks I ever had!  

How to Make Ivorian Pineapple Ginger Juice

In Ivorian ginger juice, which is the recipe I will share below, pineapples are used to dilute the spiciness of the ginger, but it also provides its own nutrients. Along with pineapple, you will need sugar and lemons or limes. One stalk of lemongrass can also be used and will enhance the flavor as well as provide additional benefits!

Ingredients

• 1 pound of fresh ginger root
• One whole pineapple
• 3 Limes or lemons
• One stalk of lemongrass (optional)

• Step 1: Clean and cut your ginger

Make sure to wash your ginger thoroughly, especially since, in this recipe, we like to leave the skin on our ginger. You can remove the skin if you would like, but it is not necessary. Once all of your ginger is clean, go ahead and cut it up into small pieces. This will make it much easier to blend. 

• Step 2: Cut the pineapple

Cut off the skin of the pineapple on all sides until all you see is yellow and no spots of skin left. Then cut your pineapple into disks, and then cut it up again into fours. However you do it, just cut it small enough to fit into your blender. Because pineapples are not as dense as ginger, it will be easier to blend, even if it is a bit bigger in size.

• Step 3: Cut lemongrass and any other additions (optional)

Cut up the stalk of lemongrass. This will be blended with the pineapple. I like to add fresh mango to my ginger juice when I can find them so I would also cut them up for blending. 

• Step 4: Time to blend and strain the ginger!

First you want to blend your ginger, separate from your other ingredients. One mistake I made when I first tried making this was I tried to blend too much ginger at once. This will overwhelm your blender and possibly break it. Instead, blend the ginger in smaller batches, like four or five batches depending on how much ginger you use. It should not go past the halfway mark of your blender. Add 1-2 cups of water per batch to aid the blending process. 

Blending the ginger until it comes out really smooth, like a smoothie! Then you will strain it over a large bowl. Little by little, add the blended ginger and use a spoon to press down on it in order to drain all of the juice from it. Repeat this process until all of the ginger is done.

*I like to reblend the leftover ginger from the strainer to get the most from my ginger, but this is optional. 

• Step 5: Blend and strain the pineapple

Blending the pineapple will be easier and less time consuming. Add the chopped pineapples and lemongrass, if you are using it. Add 1 cup of water to aid the blending process. Blend until super smooth then strain it over the same bowl with the ginger juice. 

• Step 6: Re-blend and strain the juice

If you are using other ingredients, go ahead and blend and strain them into the mix as well. Once done, reblend the juice you have made and strain it ahead over another bowl. We want a really smooth taste and texture, so this step is really important!! 

• Step 7: Final touches

After the last straining of the juice, go ahead and add your lime juice, and add enough sugar to your liking. Mix it all together. 

Final Notes on Ginger Juice

This recipe will give you more than 2 liters of ginger juice. So make sure you have some containers to save it in.

Overtime, you’ll notice the juice separate and leave white residue where it sits. Don’t worry, this is totally normal! Just give it a hard and thorough shake before each serving. 

Congratulations! You just made some delicious ginger juice!

About Post Author

Dayana

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