Fresh Ginger

[PappyPaul]

Yesterday I bought a piece of fresh ginger for the first time. Now I'm not sure exactly what to do with it, how to use it, and how to store it. Any suggestions?

[Eccentrica]

If it's cool in the house, I store it in the open in a basket on the counter. If it's warm, I put it in a container in the fridge.

After you peel it, you can chop, dice, grate or even juice ginger. More often than not, I grate it with a microplane, which gives a juicy pulp that blends easily into any dish.

I used ginger almost daily — tonight I added ginger to my curry burgers and used some to make a ginger mayo to go on the burgers.

Ginger always goes into my Thai tuna patties and fried cauliflower rice, too. I find that most dishes that I'd add my favorite blend of flavors to — cilantro, shallots and coconut — also work well with a bit of ginger.

Sometimes I add ginger pulp and a slice of lemon to hot water for a nice tea.

Have fun experimenting with it.

[TryingOver]

In addition to the storing suggestions from Eccentrica, you can also store it in the freezer if you want it to keep longer/aren't using much. I love using it is sauces or salad dressings. Fresh ginger is almost spicy and works really well in Asian-inspired dishes. I had a sesame oil and ginger vinaigrette (with rice vinegar) with dinner and made meatballs with ginger, garlic, cilantro, and scallions tonight as well. 

[ShannonM816]

Ginger also freezes well. If you figure out that you tend to add it in slices to most things, you can slice it first and then freeze it. If you tend to grate it into things, you can freeze it whole or broken into pieces a few inches long and then grate it still frozen -- it's actually easier to grate when it's frozen, at least in my opinion.

I make my own kombucha, and use fresh ginger to flavor that. Like Eccentrica, I sometimes make a ginger-lemon tea, or put a few slices of ginger, a cinnamon stick, and sliced apple into a pitcher of water overnight to make an infused water. I also like the fried ginger in this recipe, either in the recipe, or as a topping on salad or vegetables.  Slice it into stir fries. Make a ginger chicken soup -- definitely good if you're feeling under the weather in the winter.