Ginger is a staple in Asian cuisine, and adds a nice touch to sauces and salsas.
Break off as much ginger as you’ll need. Lots of recipes that call for fresh ginger will specify the amount in inches. Just break off a piece about that long.
Peel it with a vegetable peeler.
Because of the odd shape, you may end up with spots where the peeler won’t fit.
For those spots just use a paring knife, or whichever of your knives has the narrowest blade.
It should be clean when you’re done.
Slice the root into thin slices lengthwise.
Yes, it’s easier to do the first slice across, but then the second slice is much harder. So now that you have long, thin slices, turn it a quarter turn and slice again in the other direction.
And that’s it. Unless you need it minced, in which case you just go back through it again.
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18 Comments
I LOVE the smell of fresh ginger. After I chop it, I’ll go around smelling my fingers until the scent fades.
Um, was that TMI?
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I’m picturing Mary Katherine Gallagher.
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Well, the rules don’t address that particular issue. And one of my picks went ahead and picked me back. So I leave it up to you. But come on, you can’t think of five OTHER sites to highlight?
One good thing to do is if you need minced ginger, just use a microplane grater/zester.
When you use the zester or microplane, doesn’t a lot of the juice get squeezed out? I would assume you have to do it over a bowl to catch everything.
I tried following a suggestion for doing garlic that way and it was a mess. Ginger root has a similar slightly-soft texture that crushes easily and gives up a lot of liquid.
I’ve never peeled my ginger, what do you use it in that you need to peel it? I’m just curious. I keep it in the freezer and grate it into stir-fry sauce whenever I need it or grate it into an Asian style soup I make. I’ve never used it in anything else.
Hmm, I never thought about not peeling it. Going to have to do some research, see what kind of difference it makes.
You know, you can peel ginger much more easily by using the edge of a metal spoon. You won’t remove as much flesh under the skin, and the skin will scrape right off, and the curve of the spoon will allow you to get into the nooks and crannies of the ginger.
I’ll give the spoon a try. My instinct is that it wouldn’t peel it as cleanly or completely, but with Genie getting me to think about whether I need to peel it at all, I’m not so sure it has to be perfect.
Aw- someone already mentioned the spoon.. heard that years ago.. & it works pretty well.. I’ll have to actually try to use a peeler with my next rhizome. I’ve never seen one look so naked & clean.
I highly recommend using a metal spoon to peel a ginger root. It’s much easier and you don’t take off too much of the good stuff. My dad taught me this technique a long time ago and I’ve been using it ever since…gotta love old Chinese ways of cooking.
If that’s how they do it in China … it’s hard to argue with a culture that’s been working on it for 5,000 years. Okay, I got it, I’ll use a spoon next time.
How do you store your fresh ginger? Naturally, I never need the whole piece so I just cut off what I need, then wrap what I don’t need an put it back in my fridge. I don’t know that I am doing it right though. Can you give me some advice on this? Thanks!
You can store unpeeled ginger in a zip-top bag in the crisper for at least two months. If you bought in bulk and need to keep it for longer than that, peel it and store in a jar filled with vodka. I won’t say that it keeps forever in vodka, but if you don’t use it before it goes bad then you must not actually like ginger.
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what about safety in cutting??????
Kumail, I think that would be a good idea.