When I was first starting to cook, I would often skip over recipes I saw that called for fresh ginger. It felt like something I never had on hand and something I didn’t want to commit to a whole chunk of because I could never use it all. Yes, I finally realized I could freeze ginger for later but just throwing the whole root in a freezer bag meant I had to thaw the whole root or saw off the chunk I needed which didn’t work well.
The time I put a little effort in up front to peel and cut the ginger into useable chunks was a real game changer. And now I LOVE recipes that call for fresh ginger because I know I can just run to the freeze and grab the exact amount I need whenever I need it.
Here is what you’ll need:
- Big hunk of ginger
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Peeler
- Plastic freezer bag
Here is what you do:
- Peel the ginger completely
- Cut the ginger into “coins” (1-2 Tablespoon sized pieces)
- Label plastic bag with date
- Put sliced ginger in bag
- Put bag in freezer where it can be flat with ginger pieces as separated as possible
- When frozen, move bag to more convenient spot in freezer
- Open the bag and grab the amount you need whenever a recipe calls for fresh ginger (frozen ginger is really easy to grate or mince)
- Seal bag and place it back in the freezer
So if you’re skipping over recipes with fresh ginger like I was (or have an unpeeled ginger root in your freezer right now) give this a whirl and see if it works for you!
Happy cooking!
Mel
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