Candied Ginger in Syrup — Zenzero Fabbri Review

What does 25 dollars of Italian candied ginger taste like?

I’ve been ogling this candied ginger on Amazon for a couple years now, and I finally pulled the $25 trigger. I’d previously purchased a small 8-ounce jar of the Fabbri Amarena Cherries, which were mind-blowingly delicious. I sprung for the bigger, 21 ounce jar this time, because I’m greedy, and also because I wanted the special white glass jar. The small jars are just clear glass with a shrink-wrapped white label — but the big jars are a gorgeous, opaque white glass with thick, colorful, printed designs. I have jar priorities, mmmkay? More about the jar later.

This ginger has an amazing smooth texture. I was expecting it to be stringy or fibrous or tough or chewy or something. But it’s almost magically soft and easy to bite and chew.* Almost suspiciously uniform in consistency. It’s definitely real ginger, but ginger from a magical, utopian universe. This is the ginger unicorns would eat as they prance through a pink glitter forest. The lumps are consistent in size, too, although they have a natural, biomorphic shape. All of the peel has been removed, and just the inner ginger left.

There is a good bit of syrup in the jar, in proportion to the ginger chunks. This is great if you were planning to make beverages out of it. But bad if you only wanted to snack on ginger, like I did. The syrup is thin and almost clear, but it has a strong flavor and sweetness. The jar came with recipes for a cocktail, as well as lemonade. More about the recipes later.

Here’s what the ginger looks like after you bite it. It’s the same deep color and tender, pickle-like consistency all the way through the center.

The spiciness hits you immediately, but it intensifies after about a minute, and you can feel the good burn all the way down your throat. There’s also a distinct orange flavor, in addition to the ginger taste. It’s sweet, but not sickening. The syrup adds a tangy, almost fizzy-tart taste. I can see why this ginger is so popular.

Unrelated: I tried to take a picture of the syrup in the jar, but instead I got a glimpse of my wild bed-head-hair reflected in the liquid. Like some kind of spicy wishing-well. I won’t tell you what I wished for.

I love that there are no artificial colors or flavors in the ingredients. Turmeric and ginger is a classic pairing for inflammation and digestion, so it’s wonderful to see the turmeric extract in here, too. I think the origin of the “orange flavor” must arise from the “natural flavors” that have been added, because I don’t see any “orange” or even “citrus” in the ingredients.

The label says NOT to refrigerate the jar after opening, which concerned me. I live in Florida, and my house is often 80-85 degrees inside. I am basically a lizard, OK?

I emailed Fabbri customer service to find out if they were serious about that instruction, and what would happen if I chose to refrigerate my ginger, in defiance of the label. I have not heard back yet. I don’t want to lose my $25 investment to premature spoilage. I want to eat every last morsel of this ginger. My wallet agrees.**

There are supposedly 33 servings per jar, consisting of 1 tablespoon each. Ten grams of sugar per serving is perfectly reasonable for a treat. I may have eaten 4 or 5 “treats” just now, however, which is not-so-reasonable. Alas.

Apparently, I am not the only one interested in repurposing this jar! The lid commands it. As previously mentioned, the jar is gorgeous. It’s made of solid white, opaque glass, with an elegant curved shape. There are fun navy blue and orange designs printed all around the sides with thick, raised ink. Unfortunately, mine had some smears in the ink and some scuffs to the design. Still pretty. I will use it to store some bulk spices in my spice cabinet. The lid suggests using it as a vase, a lamp base, or a pencil holder. Hmm.

Bonus Recipes

If you get tired of just popping these ginger nuggets in your mouth, the jar came with a long, accordion-folded strip of recipe suggestions. There’s an impressive range of food categories here, including drinks, savory dishes, salads, and desserts. Here are a few:

• Orange and Fennel Salad with Zenzero Fabbri
• Lime and Zenzero Fabbri Muffins
• Chicken a l’Orange with Zenzero Fabbri
• Zenzero Fabbri Prawn on Belgian Endives

Ingredients

Here’s a complete list of the ingredients in the candied ginger with syrup:

Sugar, candied ginger (sugar, ginger), water, glucose syrup, citric acid, turmeric extract, ginger extract, natural flavors, fruit and vegetable juice for color, caramelized sugar.

Price and Servings

I bought this from Amazon for $24.99. It’s a 1.32 pound jar with 33 servings, so each serving costs 76 cents. This is made in Italy. You can also find this online at Wal-Mart and Bella Italia Foods.

* As I ate my way through the jar, I did find 2-3 unpleasant ginger chunks. They were fibrous and not chewable. I spit them out. But the vast majority were the stuff of fairy tales.

** For the sake of science (and because Fabbri never emailed me back!) I left the jar sitting on my counter for a week, and checked on the ginger. It was fine. It didn’t smell or taste like it had gone bad. Then I put the jar in my refrigerator for a few days. Also fine. The syrup thickens considerably, but the ginger nuggets had only slightly changed in texture.

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Author’s note:
Fabbri didn’t pay me to write this, and neither did Amazon, Wal-Mart, or Bella Italia. No one paid me. NO ONE. Not a single soul. Thank you, and good-night.