Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Salone Ginger Beer
An intense, throat-warming fresh ginger beer sweetened and laced with lime, Sierra Leone's bold, no-compromise cooler.
Sierra Leonean · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 0 min
~186 cal · 1g protein · 47g carbs · 1g fat · 2g fiber · 35g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Salone ginger beer is Sierra Leone's fiery homemade brew of fresh ginger, sugar, lime, and often a hint of chili or clove, served ice-cold. Sharp, spicy, and refreshing, it is a drink for the tropical heat and a festive favorite.
Ginger beer traditions run across West Africa and the Caribbean, and the Sierra Leonean version leans hot and bold. Brewed in homes and sold by vendors, it ranges from gently spiced to intensely fiery.
Enjoyed across Freetown and beyond, Salone ginger beer is a cheerful, warming refresher.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1.5 cups fresh ginger, peeled
7 cups water
3 lime
1 cup sugar
4 cloves
Instructions
1
Blend the peeled ginger with about half a cup of water into a thick paste.
✎ Chef’s note
A blender does in a minute what Sierra Leonean women do with a mortar and pestle, which is how it is still made in most kitchens. Work it to a genuine paste; the finer the pulp the more juice you will get out of it.
2
Tip the paste into a bowl with the cloves and pour hot water over it, then leave it to steep.
✎ Chef’s note
Hot water, not cold. It draws far more heat and aroma out of the ginger, which is the whole point of a ginger beer as against a ginger ale.
3
Strain firmly through a cloth, pressing out every drop of the fiery juice.
4
Stir in the remaining water, lime juice, and sugar, tasting to balance heat and sweetness.
5
Chill at least an hour and serve very cold over ice.
✎ Chef’s note
The fiercest ginger settles at the bottom of the bottle. Pour off the clear liquid for a milder drink, or stir it up first if you want it to clear your head properly.
Freetown home and cooler tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Freetown. Rice is not a side dish. It is the meal, and everything else is plassas, the sauce that goes over it; the standard complaint is that a meal without rice does not count as one. Groundnut soup, okra and jollof rotate around it, and pepper is used with an unapologetically heavy hand.
🗺️
Sierra Leone. Rice is the point of the meal rather than the side. A Sierra Leonean household counts a day without rice as a day without food, and among the upland and swamp varieties grown here there are surviving pockets of African rice, Oryza glaberrima, domesticated along the Niger two or three thousand years ago and a different species from the Asian rice grown almost everywhere else.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Sierra Leone
Cassava Leaf StewFinely pounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with palm oil, beef, and smoked fish over rice.
Sierra Leonean Fry FryA plate of assorted fried things with a peppery gravy to dip them in, the Freetown street breakfast.
Krain KrainChopped jute leaves stewed with red palm oil and smoked fish into a savory green sauce, served over rice.
Browse all Sierra Leone recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Sierra Leone meal
Cassava Leaf StewDinner
Benne CakesDessert
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Salone Ginger Beer?
An intense, throat-warming fresh ginger beer sweetened and laced with lime, Sierra Leone's bold, no-compromise cooler.
Where does Salone Ginger Beer come from?
Salone Ginger Beer is a Sierra Leonean dish from Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Can Salone Ginger Beer be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Salone Ginger Beer recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Salone Ginger Beer safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Salone Ginger Beer take to make?
About 15 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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