Utilization of ginger

[prasantrin]

If you buy a Japanese ginger grater, you'll never go back to anything else. Just watch your fingers. Those little nubby things are sharp!

If your ginger is too old to peel with a spoon, try using a grapefruit spoon. The serrated-like edges are a little better for peeling old ginger than a smooth-sided spoon.

I almost never peel ginger, though. I just use it skin and al.

[sparrowgrass]

Stick the hard to peel bits into a mason jar and cover with sherry. Gingered sherry is the bomb in Asian stirfries. I always have a jarful in the fridge.

[mr.baconhead]

When I can find really fresh young ginger, I buy a lot. Scrape w/ spoon, and puree in Vita-mix w/ a just enough water to get it going.

Vacuum seal in mason jar (hole/electrical tape on lid) and refrigerate. Keeps for months and is ready to go for all those Asian recipes.

Unfortunately, this trick does not work for garlic.

[jasie]

This sounds really weird but if I want/need ginger for like a quick stir fry or dish where ginger is just an accent and not the dominant flavor, I just grab Gari. Yes. The pickled ginger that sushi places serve. I get a jar of that for around $3 at the asian supermarkets and it lasts forever. The sweet vinegary brine that it sits in doesn't affect the flavor of whatever I'm cooking (so far), and all I have to do is grab a few slivers (or more) and decide whether to use it whole, or julienne it since its already sliced up for me. It is always in the fridge, fast, easy, no waste, and... Did I mention it lasts forever?

If i want to use regular ginger (not that often now though), I peel it using an oxo vegetable peeler and then slice/chop/mince with a chinese cleaver. Works well.

[Prawncrackers]

One of the most satisfying prep jobs is scraping ginger with the edge of the cleaver, slicing into fat discs then smashing them to a pulp with the leading edge. You have to catch them just right otherwise it ricochets around the kitchen! Microplaning is good too though if you don't want lumps of ginger everywhere.

I echo the sentiments of some of the earlier posts, it's really frowned upon by older Chinese to waste ginger by peeling it coarsely. You must scrape carefully so as little as possible is wasted. Maybe it's a superstition thing too.

[Mr Wozencroft]

Speed peeler. Peel goes into a jar of shoasing wine to be used in chinese chicken stock (or freezer bag). Microplane for the flesh. If any flesh is left over I store in a jar with Shoasing wine so I can let them both get to know each other. Little knobbley bits... into the wine jar to be used in stock.

p.s.

Its easier to grate along the grane rather than against it .

[cbread]

Another way is to use the wrong side of a knife to scrape the skin off. Works OK, but more frequently, I find myself roughly lopping off the skin and quite a bit of the flesh just to get past the peeling part. I want to be productive, and my results, though to a degree wasteful, taste just fine and save my attention for more critical issues.

[onrushpam]

Okay, I guess I've been doing it wrong all these years...

I never peel ginger. I just break off a knob and scrape it over my microplane (not the really fine one, but the "ribbon" one). The peel/skin seems to stay on top and the good stuff goes through. Nobody has ever complained. Maybe they were just being polite?

[andiesenji]

I have scraped tons of ginger with a slightly rounded teaspoon but occasionally use a grapefruit spoon if one is handy.

I prepare large batches of candied/crystalized ginger, often 10 to 15 pounds. A few eG members have been on the receiving end of the stuff I prepare.

Occasionally I come across a batch that resists the scraping and I dip it into boiling water (using a fry basket) for thirty seconds or so followed by rinsing in cold tap water.

That usually makes the skin easy to remove.

If I need just a little ginger pulp for a recipe, I either use a suribachi bowl or a ginger "grater" - one with the sharp little bumps - as this will give me just the pulp and juice and none of the fibers and I don't bother to peel it as the skin is simply pushed aside during the process.

Edited August 22, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[RunBe4UFly]

the traditional way: wash it and use it (chop, slice, julienne, finely chop, hammered with a chinese clever) with the skin on

the new traditional way: wash it, peel it with spoon, then use it

the way I see here: cut it with paring knife, or use some tools (other than knife and spoon), then 'work' with it.

my mom was laughing at me when I wash and peel the ginger before I use it. 7 years in US has done a lot to me I guess....