How to Store Ginger so You Always Have a Fresh Supply
I recently wanted to try a new recipe that called for ginger root. The only ginger I had was a shriveled up, moldy piece of ginger at the bottom of my crisper drawer, undoubtedly purchased a long time ago for some other recipe that only called for a little bit of ginger. I hate to let food go to waste, but clearly the ginger I had on hand wasn’t going to work, so I threw it in the compost bin and added ginger to my grocery list.
Later, after I had gone to the store and made the recipe, I still had some ginger on hand. Not wanting to repeat the previous ginger-gone-bad situation, I started to look around for the best way to store ginger so it would keep for a long, long time. And what I found was very heartening, my friends. So if you’ve ever found yourself in the eternal ginger conundrum, read on. I’ll share a couple of methods of easy storage with you so you don’t find yourself wasting ginger, or needing to go to the store just to get some ginger.
Refrigerating
The most common method to preserve ginger is refrigerating it. That’s the method I always used to use. The issue is that refrigerating ginger only keeps it usable for about a week. That’s not nearly long enough for me to use up the whole thing. If a week or so is all you need, though, then just stick your ginger in a freezer bag (keep the peel on the root), press all the air out and seal it, and then put it in the crisper drawer.
Freezing
If you want to store your ginger indefinitely, then freezing is an excellent option. Leave the peel on and put it in a freezer-safe container (a freezer bag works well). The best part of this method is that when you need ginger (even if the recipe calls for fresh ginger), you can just pull it out of the freezer, grate off what you need, and then put the unused portion back in the freezer. You don’t even need to thaw it first—and in fact, it’s much easier to peel ginger when it’s frozen. Win-win!
Planting
If you go through ginger fairly regularly, it’s pretty easy to get an unending supply that basically stores itself. Go and buy a ginger root from the store, then plant it in a little pot and put it in a windowsill. Just like most any plant would, it will sprout shoots and leaves. When you’re cooking something that calls for ginger, just lift the plant up, cut off a piece of the root, and then return the plant to its pot. Taking bits of the root here and there won’t hurt your plant, and all you need to do is keep it watered to have an almost-limitless supply of ginger! How cool is that?
No matter what method you choose, having a good way to store ginger can help cut down on food waste and make using this awesome plant much more convenient.
And, if you want to learn how to use ginger to quickly beat nausea, check out our article here!
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