Much as I love Gingerbread FB – I’m already in mourning for its passing as a limited edition - so been looking for long term alternatives.
When I’m in the grocery store, I normally avoid what I affectionately (and probably inappropriately) refer to as the ‘Hocus Pocus’ aisle – which is basically all of the Chinese branded natural and homeopathic produce. Ginger is a big part of Chinese food and natural remedies so I had a stroll down and came across this locally produced item:
It’s actually intended to use with boiling water to make tea but I tried it out – first blending it in water by itself (it’s a very thick paste, one 390g jar of concentrate is actually 1.2kg of ginger and dates reduced down) then adding Original Huel powder and blending again. Honestly the taste was amazing – the red dates add the sweetness to make it taste just like gingerbread straight out of the blender – no need to let it stand or absorb anymore. Its apparently a popular tea remedy in Chinese culture and so I would imagine is easily available in most countries in one brand or another. Many recipes exist on the internet too for making your own. I actually found that 10mg is more than enough to add a slightly punchier flavour than the Gingerbread FB so that works out at around 6 pence per serving but also maxes out your daily salt intake.
Ginger and Red Date Concentrate Ingredients: Organic Ginger, Red Dates, Organic Molasses, Mineral Water.
NUTRITION per 15g tbsp
Energy 151.37 kJ / 36.18 kcal
Fat 0.33 g
(saturated fat 0.1 g)
Carbohydrates 7.85 g
(sugar 4.37 g)
Protein 0.18 g
Salt 2.17 g
I’m also a big fan of liquorice so got some of these products from Lakrids by Bülow on the way from Denmark to try out. The syrups are available in sweet or salty variants and the powder in raw or fine although they advise raw is better suited for baking rather than mixing in drinks which is where the fine option comes in. Clearly the powder is the healthier option but I’m going to try both in the name of science 
Organic Sweet Liquorice Syrup Ingredients: Cane sugar, glucose syrup, treacle, Iranian raw liquorice, Salt.
Nutrition per 15g tbsp
Energy 211.26 kJ / 50.3 kcal
Fat 0 g
Carbohydrates 12.56 g
(sugar 11.99 g)
Protein 0.06 g
Salt 0.09 g
Organic Salty Liquorice Syrup Ingredients: Cane sugar, glucose syrup, treacle, Iranian raw liquorice, Salt.
Nutrition per 15g tbsp
Energy 211.26kJ / 50.3 kcal
Fat 0 g
Carbohydrates 12.56 g
(sugar 11.99 g)
Protein 0.06 g
Salt 0.45 g
Fine Powder Ingredients: Organic Iranian raw liquorice
Nutrition per 15g tbsp
Energy 122.5 kJ / 29.4 kcal
Fat 0 g
Carbohydrates 5.79 g
(sugar 3.69 g)
Protein 1.41g
Salt 0.16 g
