Using Fresh Ginger – The Easy Way!
Ginger is full of wonderful health benefits. Long used for gastrointestinal distress and motion sickness, ginger is also a powerful anti-inflammatory, and has been shown to ease the pain of osteoarthritis. The volatile oils in ginger have been found to have analgesic and antibacterial properties. More recently, ginger has been found to kill cancer cells in a laboratory setting, and ginger oil has been shown to prevent skin cancer in mice.
The bottom line: Use more ginger! Here’s how to make it easy as pie.
The Tip
I’m going to try to keep this simple and not get too technical. Are you ready? Here it is.
To make fresh ginger much easier to use:
1. Buy some fresh ginger.
2. Put it in a plastic freezer bag.
3. Put in freezer.
Are you still with me? Because this next part is the clincher:
4. When you need fresh ginger, remove bag from freezer.
5. Break off piece.
6. Grate using microplane grater. (I love mine
7. Return unused ginger to freezer.
OK… I’m being a little facetious. This isn’t rocket science. But for some reason, it took me quite a few years of cooking to figure out how to make this work for me. I used to think that using fresh ginger was for the birds. First of all, you generally need about an inch or so of the root for one recipe, and you need to buy a whole huge hunk. It’s not that it’s expensive, but I HATE wasting food, so I’d be struggling to use the entire root before it got yucky. Secondly, peeling ginger is pretty torturous with all those knobs, bumps and turns. I finally realized it’s unnecessary! If you grate it, the peel is a non-issue. And finally, I used to try slicing or chopping ginger. The Asian chefs I see on cooking shows seem to have no problems, but I’ve gotta tell ya, I could never get it. I’d find myself sawing through those fibrous hunks and getting pretty miserable.
Isn’t this tip going to change your life? Now go make some stir-fry!
PS – I do love the safety of my microplane grater
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We use our Pampered Chef Garlic Press for ginger and it works really well too – you just chop it into smaller chunks and then press it in. A little muscle is required, but the fresh ginger pushes through without the skin.
Shanda – Thanks for that tip! I have to admit, when I used to sell Pampered Chef, we were supposed to share that the garlic press worked for ginger, too. It never did for me!!!! Maybe I didn’t cut it into small enough chunks… Anyway, that was many years ago and I’m sure they’ve changed design many times since then. Glad to know it’s working for you! (All – The Pampered Chef garlic press can be found here.)
i haven’t found organic ginger at the stores, is it something that i should buy organically, or is it not a highly sprayed crop?
thanks
I had heard of freezing ginger before and now I think I might actually try it. I was never sure if I should peel it and then freeze it or not. I had to use a really shriveled piece for our stir fry last night. I was just glad I had some. Last time, it had gone bad and my stir fry just wasn’t the same without it.
Noelle – That’s a great question, I’m sorry it took me so long to respond. Interestingly, my local Wegman’s has organic ginger this week! And so I definitely bought a few hands worth and threw them in the freezer! But I agree – it’s normally hard to find organic ginger in the regular supermarket. It’s a bit easier to find in health food stores. I do really think it is worth finding organic. Not only is the crop sprayed with anti-fungals and pesticides, but it’s a root and so it just sits in the soil. If that’s filled with non-organic fertilizers… not good. So, when you find it, either in the grocery store or after making a trek to the health food store, buy a lot and store it in the freezer!
Sarah – Thanks for visiting! I agree – there is no substitute for fresh ginger. This works like a charm so I hope you’re always prepared from now on
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