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.
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…
Freezing Ginger
1. Cut your ginger into manageable pieces – pieces that you’ll be able to easily handle and peel.
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!
3. Finely grate the ginger – watch those fingers!
4. I find that most of my recipes call for 1 tbsp of fresh ginger, so that’s how I portion it.
5. Wrap the ginger in cling wrap, twisting at the ends like a candy wrapper, and tying in a knot
6. Place ginger parcels in a freezer-safe bag and store it in the freezer until ready to use.
Remember how I said to keep all those peelings?
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!
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…
Great tip re: freezing ginger! Just stumbled upon this site, love your recipes, added to my favourites ☺️
Excellent site. Lots of useful info here. I’m sending it to a few friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you in your effort!|
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.
Hi Sue, I would just use it frozen, don’t bother with defrosting it? Hope that helps…
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. 🙂
Thanks! I’m so glad to hear that you liked this little tip 🙂
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.
Interesting! That would certainly smell amazing! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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.)
Great tips! I’ve heard about the Lee
Valley microplane… It’s now on my Christmas list 😉
I have a Lee Valley microplane.. and LOVE it! I also just grate ginger straight from the freezer… very easy! It’s like a lovely ginger snow. 🙂
You’re right, it does look like snow when grated from frozen 🙂 Another “thumbs-up” for the Lee Valley microplane, huh? Really hoping Santa brings me one for Christmas! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
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!
I’ve done that as well, but I find it so tough to grate when frozen… so I do this when I have a lot of ginger (and the time for grating it all!)
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.
Oh that’s a great one – totally never thought of that. Great for limes too. Thanks so much for sharing that!
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
Hi Anneke – That’s a great idea. It’s how I freeze my pesto 🙂
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.
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 🙂
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
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
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.
Hi Zoa – Thanks for that tip about the peels. I’ll do that next time…more ginger tea is never a bad thing!
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.
Hi Michelle! That’s a great tip, thank you for sharing! I wonder if i could grow ginger in a pot on my balcony here in Sydney? That would be awesome!
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!
Glad you found it helpful!
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!
Thanks! I have a cheap grater but I’m totally investing in a real microplane when I get back home. I like how you can grate both ways with them!
These are really great tips, Angela! Thanks! (I’m bookmarking it and tweeting it!)
Thanks so much JL, you rock!
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…
That’s a good idea about the soups. And yes, I hate wasting food – especially expensive stuff!
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.
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!
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
That’s so interesting! What do you use the vinegar for afterwards?
I don’t use it enough but I sometimes use it in salad dressings or in stirfries instead of lemon juice
Yum, I like the salad dressing idea – thanks for that!
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 🙂
Ooooo I like that idea of boiling the ginger peelings with spices and apple cider. Must remember to try that!
This is the BEST idea! My ginger is always going bad before I can use it all. Thanks!
Thanks Lexi! I was in the same boat, but it’s fresh-ginger-city in this house now 😉
Fabulous idea! Thanks 🙂
You’re welcome – thanks for stopping by!
Love this! What a clever way to save the ginger and make your kitchen fresh – now I won’t feel so bad about buying a bigger chunk next time I’m at the store. Great tips!
Thanks Heather – Glad you found it useful!