The best-ever ginger beer

Quenching and crowd-pleasing, a frosty glass of ginger beer can kick off a kitchen tea or polish off a round of tennis…

Makes 1,5 litres

Dissolve 2,5ml (½ tsp) sugar in 30ml (2 tbsp) warm water. Add 2ml instant dry yeast and stir well. Set aside in a warm place until frothy. Combine the zest of 2 lemons with 200g (1 cup) sugar and 30ml (2 tbsp) ground ginger.

Add 250ml (1 cup) boiling water and leave to steep for 10 minutes. Strain the mixture into a 1,5 litre container with a lid (a bottle with a screw-top lid is ideal) and top up with cold water (leaving space for the yeast mixture).

Add the foaming yeast mixture to the container, close the bottle tightly and leave to ferment in a warm place for at least 12 hours. Refrigerate and serve chilled. Open the container with care to release any gas slowly.