Candied Ginger

I've been enjoying ginger lately.  Ginger is supposed to have health benefits such as acting as an anti-inflammatory agent and helping digestion.  I enjoy ginger candy that I found in the Asian aisle at Cub Foods.  And I also enjoy eating candied ginger which is sold in the health food section at Cub.  I thought I'd try to make my own candied ginger.  Offspring #2 brought me a really big chunk of organic ginger.  I split it in half.  One half I planted in a flower pot hoping to grow my own ginger.  The other half I peeled and sliced as thinly as I could.  I boiled the ginger root slices in water for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes there was about a cup of water left in the kettle.  To that water I added a half cup of white sugar and boiled another 20 minutes until all that was left was the ginger slices and a couple tablespoons of thick ginger syrup.  This made the house smell very nice.  When I looked down through the steam into the ginger my nose would run like a faucet.  Once most of the liquid was gone I removed the ginger from the kettle and laid it on a wire rack to cool and dry for an hour.  I coated each ginger slice in more white sugar and let it dry for another couple hours.  Delicious!  Much cheaper than I could buy at Cub.  You can grate this ginger to use in recipes calling for ginger.  Or, if you're like me, you will just pop one in your mouth and enjoy the hot gingery sweetness.