If you’ve never used fresh ginger, do yourself a favor and buy a hunk of it at your local grocery. Don’t get me wrong. Ginger in all its forms is one of my favorite spices and I have nothing against powdered ginger. In fact, I love it. But if you want to make a “rock your world” stir fry or jerk chicken, add incredible depth to your gingerbread or make ginger simple syrup for fancy desserts, you need the real stuff.
But first, you need to know how to peel fresh ginger. Ginger is a knarly root, with crevices and corners that defy the quick-and-easy carrot peeling approach. And that’s where my latest video tip can help. Using a knife doesn’t work well and neither does a vegetable peeler, either the T-type of the long one.
But a spoon can do the job with a minimum of waste and no chance of cutting yourself. Check out the video below to see how to do it.
Ideas for Using Fresh Ginger
If you are looking for ideas on how to use fresh ginger, check these out:
- Small Batch Pear Ginger Jam
- Small Batch Rhubarb Ginger Jam
- Seasons 52 Ginger Mint Agave Soda
- Ginger beef, corn with red pepper, and garlic eggplant (3 recipes, all of which use ginger)
- Stir-fried shrimp
- Chinese Burmese Chili Chicken
Ideas for Using Candied or Crystallized Ginger
Fresh ginger is lovely. But so is the sweetened, preserved version known as candied or crystallized ginger. Later this week, I’ll post my adventures making it using David Lebovitz’s recipe. Although you can buy it already candied or crystallized, I much prefer the homemade version. Try it. I think you’ll agree. And you can eat it straight or find endless ways to use it in baking and beverages. For example,
Hope I’ve inspired you to experiment with fresh ginger. I look forward to hearing from you on how you use fresh ginger – after you’ve peeled it!
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