Freezing Ginger + Other Useful Tips

I bought a big chunk of fresh ginger last week in order to remake my Carrot Ginger Dressing. I adore the smell and taste of fresh ginger and I love using it in my meals because I find that it really “wakes” everything up.

Fun with Ginger

The only problem is that I find that fresh ginger goes-off quickly in my fridge. It either dries-out or gets all slimy and moldy before I have a chance to use it all up. So, instead of storing it in the fridge, I now store it in the freezer. I don’t just toss it in the ice box whole though – I grate it first. The benefit of finely grating your ginger is that you won’t end-up with those stringy bits of ginger in your food. Since it’s a bit time-consuming, it’s nice to do a whole bunch at once, that way you always have “fresh” ginger on hand when you need it. Time flies when you watch a documentary while peeling and grating…

I'll watch a documentary about pretty much any topic!
“The Revelation of the Pyramids” (I love any and all documentaries!)

Freezing Ginger

1. Cut your ginger into manageable pieces – pieces that you’ll be able to easily handle and peel.

Freezing Ginger

2. Using a small knife, remove the peel from the ginger and cut-out any rough bits. Save all your scrapings – I’ll show you how to use them below!

Freezing Ginger

3. Finely grate the ginger – watch those fingers!

Freezing Ginger

4. I find that most of my recipes call for 1 tbsp of fresh ginger, so that’s how I portion it.

Freezing Ginger

5. Wrap the ginger in cling wrap, twisting at the ends like a candy wrapper, and tying in a knot

Freezing Ginger Freezing Ginger Freezing Ginger

6. Place ginger parcels in a freezer-safe bag and store it in the freezer until ready to use.

Freezing Ginger

Remember how I said to keep all those peelings?

Fun with Ginger

I like to simmer the ginger peels along along with a squeeze of lemon in a saucepan filled with water for about 20 minutes. It’s a natural air freshener for your kitchen!

Fun with Ginger

I also use the collected juice and stringy bits to make a quick ginger tea.

Ginger Tea

  • Seep the ginger remnants and juice in boiling water for about 5 minutes. You can make it as strong as you want, but 4 cups of water for these remnants was perfect for me.
  • Strain the tea from the ginger pieces.
  • Add a splash of lemon juice and a squirt of agave nectar.
  • This is such an invigorating drink, and is especially nice if you’re feeling run-down and/or feel a cold coming on.
  • I even like it served cold out of the fridge…

Ginger Tea

Do you like ginger? Share your tips on using and storing it!

48 thoughts on “Freezing Ginger + Other Useful Tips”

  1. Thank you all for these great tips, especially “Ginger peel tea”. i have chronic nausea and ginger has been recommended to me, but I’m brand new to it and have a couple of questions I haven’t found answers to elsewhere. I’m disabled and seldom cook or shop. I’ve been eating raw ginger, but usually have more than I need. My first question is, can I freeze a piece of the root, then thaw it and keep it in the refrigerator for a few days to use raw? I froze a nice piece in an airtight container, but when I thawed it in the same container it became slimy, soft, and was oozing juice, so I threw it away. I have other questions, but I’ll start here and hope one of you kind people helps me. Thanks and God bless.

    Reply
  2. So good! I bought it yesterday and I did not have good idea, what to do with it 🙂 luckily I found this blog! Really good! Keep going this way! Love your advices 🙂 and great recepies. 🙂

    Reply
  3. I also love the smell of ginger. I use the peels to wipe down my kitchen and bathroom counters. It gives my kitchen and bathroom a nice aroma.

    Reply
  4. If you can get your hands on a microplane (Lee Valley Tools was my source), you can make this whole ‘fresh grated ginger’ thing even easier. I watched Chef Michael Smith on TV several years ago demonstrate how easy it is to get almost instant fresh grated ginger with a microplane if you just freeze the whole root first. You don’t have to peel anything; the microplane makes short work of it all and no peel is discerned in the final product. Toss the remaining root securely encased in its ziploc bag back in the freezer and it will be there when you next need it. No more soggy ginger tubers! (I love your ginger tea idea but you can do that very quickly this way as well.)

    Reply
  5. I just freeze a big hunk of it as it is & use a normal grater without peeling it (no one has complained when eating my food so far………). It seems to keep for months on end too. Bargain!

    Reply
  6. Great tip!

    Here’s another: I buy bags of organic lemons and freeze them whole. The skin protects the lemon pulp.
    If I need them in a hurry I put them in a cup or two of hot water to thaw.

    Reply
  7. I don’t know if anyone has already posted this but I find that putting the ginger in ice cube trays or the one use for weaning babies is another good way to portion. Once it’s frozen, transfer the blocks into a freezer bag!

    Love Ginger!

    X

    Reply
  8. All I love ginger as I live alone I don’t always use it immediately so I have been freezing it for years, but I freeze it as it is. You can grate it straight from the freezer using a normal metal grater (just grate a bit more than usual as there will be ice crystals in it). There is no need to peel either as the small amount of skin disapears in the gratings, unless you want to peel it in which case it’s probably easier to peel it before you freeze it.

    Reply
    • Hi Janey – yes I’ve gone that too in a pinch but I like how it’s a lot easier to grate when it’s fresh vs frozen… But all options work as long as you know you’ll always have fresh ginger on hand 🙂

      Reply
  9. Hello dear Angela!

    I’m glad my posts will be great to read about before you head to Wellington! I think that is a great time to go there because when I went there, it was so windy and cold. It felt like fall time in Europe. I managed to see a baby New Zealand sea lion (my first one, in person), cleaning his feet off the rocks on the pathway besides Wellington Harbour area. It was so random, and I was wondering how on earth that baby sea lion got there on its own?

    Your post on frozen ginger sounds awesome including that ginger tea, which I shall try since I’m addicted to teas this year! I don’t like ginger (probably it burned my nose like wasabi would do to me), my partner finishes a pot of white ginger everywhere he eats sushi.

    Hope Sydney’s treating ya well! 🙂

    xxx

    Reply
    • Hi Rika – I think Wellington is always cold/windy. I went there in the summer once, and it was so cold, I had to go to a thrift shop to buy a scarf and hat! You know it’s cold when the Canadians are complaining! It’s because the wind there is direct from Antarctica – it’s literally ice-cold!

      I will have to keep my eyes peeled for a baby sea lion! That would be so cute. Hopefully the little fellow was ok 🙂

      The ginger at the sushi shops is a lot stronger than fresh ginger. You should give this a try even if you don’t like that ginger. You can water the tea down so it’s just a faint taste – it will still be refreshing and invigorating!

      We have 2 months left in Sydney… it is going by too quickly! xx

      Reply
  10. Nice post! Ginger lasts quite a while on the counter, but not forever, and this is a great way to keep it at its juicy best. Ginger tea is delicious in hot weather, and I also like the idea of making it out of the peels, which are almost always super-clean, at least in my experience.

    Reply
      • Hi, I learned this early on, finding ginger to be pesky to peel fresh. I just throw the whole knob in a plastic bag and freeze it. It so so much easier to grate frozen than fresh. No need to peel it either. I grow my own so quantity was never an issue, it’s just that much easier to grate frozen. If you live in a somewhat temperate climate. I’m in Georgia, (USA) Ginger is easy to grow and beautiful as well! Very easy to candy to.

        Reply
  11. Great idea! Now I won’t need to waste ginger which often got all dried up after being left abandoned in the veggie basket. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Go you for using every part of the mighty ginger – I usually just chuck the peels, but I like your air freshener idea. Also, the microplane is probably my single most favorite kitchen tool – totally makes short work out of garlic and ginger, and gets rid of stringy, unchewable ginger chunks like you said. Best invention ever!

    Reply
  13. These are all great ideas! I like how you use ever bit of the ginger, especially since it is so expensive. You could probably also save the ginger shavings to make a gingery broth for congee or other asian soups.

    I will definitely try this freezing technique! No more moldy ginger for me…

    Reply
  14. I had no idea you could freeze ginger! ALthough to be honest I always use my ginger up really quickly – I am a huge ginger fan. I usually grate a pretty good sized piece into my green smoothies – it really cuts the chlorophyll taste and adds a delicious zing.

    Reply
    • Actually, ever since I started doing this, I’ve found myself going through way more ginger. I think I’m more likely to use it now since I know I always have it on hand… Maybe I’m more likely to bookmark ginger-related recipes now?? I like the green smoothies idea, will try that, thank you!

      Reply
  15. have never tried freezing ginger – though I have talked to people who swear by it – your method looks so organised – I cut it into lumps and store it in a jar with vinegar – in essence I guess it is pickled – and then I have ginger infused vinegar once the ginger is used up

    Reply
  16. My mum always freezes ginger, so I adopted the practise too – I love your idea of portioning in tablespoons though, I’m totally doing that from now on 🙂 I do the same thing with my ginger peelings too, love ginger tea, it’s so zingy and definitely wakes you up. I love boiling up ginger peelings with some spices and apple cider in winter for a warming delicious little tipple 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Comment