Ginger

Ginger

in Spices and Herbs

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Gin­ger (Zin­giber offic­inale), a sub­trop­ical plant, is grown for its spicy, aromatic, gnarled, and bumpy root (rhizome or under­ground stem), which is used as a season­ing in foods.

The root has tan skin, ivory to pale green flesh, and a pep­pery, slightly sweet flavour. Gin­ger is planted in August or Sep­tem­ber using the pre­vi­ous year's crop. Gin­ger takes about nine months to reach matu­rity. After the flow­ers appear, the tops begin to die, leav­ing the gin­ger rhizomes ready to har­vest.

Gin­ger is a mainstay of Asian and Indian cooking and is used grated, ground and sliv­ered. Gin­ger juice is the juice of the root. Can­died or crys­tallized gin­ger is gin­ger cooked in a sugar syrup, while pre­served gin­ger is in a sugar-salt mix­ture: both of these are used primar­ily for sweets and desserts. Pickled gin­ger, used as a palate cleanser with sushi, is gin­ger pre­served in sweet vinegar.

The Chi­nese and Japa­n­ese con­sider gin­ger a yang, or hot, food, which bal­ances cool­ing yin foods to cre­ate harmony.

Sea­son

Fresh gin­ger is avai­l­able year-round with peak sea­son March through Sep­tem­ber.

Pur­chase

Fresh gin­ger can be found year round in the produce sec­tion of most gro­cery stores. Look for smooth skin with a fresh, spicy fragrance. Tubers should be firm and feel heavy. Length is a sign of matu­rity, and mature rhizomes will be hotter and more fibrous. Also avai­l­able dried and ground in the spice sec­tion. Spe­cialty or Asian mar­kets carry gin­ger juice, pickled gin­ger and pre­served gin­ger.

Avoid

Avoid those with wrin­kled flesh, as this is an indica­tion of aged gin­ger past its prime.

Stor­age

Fresh, unpeeled root should be wrapped in paper tow­els, placed in a plas­tic bag and refrig­er­ated up to three weeks. It can also be tightly wrapped and frozen up to two months. (To use frozen gin­ger, slice off a piece of unthawed root. Re-wrap unused por­tion tightly and return to the freezer.) Dried gin­ger should be kept in a cool, dark space in an air­tight con­tainer. Pickled and pre­served gin­ger should be kept in their orig­inal con­tain­ers in the refrig­er­ator. Store crys­tallized gin­ger in an air­tight con­tainer in a cool, dark place for up to three months.

Prepa­ra­tion

1. Trim off as small a knob as needed.

2. Peel using a veg­etable peeler or the edge of a spoon.

3. Grate with a gin­ger grater or slice across the grain, or chop finely as needed.

Uses

• Fresh gin­ger is peeled and then grated or sliced and added to other ingre­di­ents.

• It is a pop­u­lar flavour­ing used in Asian dis­hes.

• Ground gin­ger is flavour­ing for salad dress­ings, baked sweets, soups, curries, meats, and desserts, such as gin­gerbread and gin­ger­snaps.

• Gin­ger juice is another form used for cooking and baking that makes it easy method to add gin­ger to foods.

• Gin­ger in syrup is used in jams, sauces, baked goods, and the syrup is used in bev­er­ages.

• The crys­tallized ver­sion is a common form used for meats, poul­try, desserts, cook­ies such as gin­ger cook­ies, and sweets.

• Pickled gin­ger is often served as an appe­tizer, while the pink pickled gin­ger is often served as a condi­ment for Japa­n­ese sushi.

Serv­ing Sug­ges­tions

• Chop or grate gin­ger with garlic as a base for Asian stir-fries or Indian or South­east Asian curries.

• Steep slices in boil­ing water for gin­ger tea, then add sugar or honey.

• Add to steak marinades with soy sauce, molasses, toasted sesame oil, chopped garlic, dry mustard, hot red pep­per flakes, and scallions.

Gin­ger In Its Many Forms

Fresh Gin­ger

 

Avai­l­able in in two forms: young and mature. Young roots, also called green or spring gin­ger, has a pale, thin skin that requires no peel­ing, is very ten­der and has a milder flavour. It can be grated, chopped, or juli­enned for use. Mature gin­ger root has a tough skin that must be peeled away to get to the fibrous flesh and is usu­ally grated, chopped or ground for use.

Ground Gin­ger

 

Also referred to as pow­dered, this dried, ground form is quite differ­ent than fresh. It is read­ily avai­l­able in standard super­mar­kets, and is used primar­ily in sweets and curry mixes.

Pickled Gin­ger

 

Called gari or beni shoga in Japan, this form is pickled in sweet vinegar and is usu­ally coloured bright red or pink. It is a famil­iar accompa­ni­ment to sushi and is also eaten to refresh the breath. Avai­l­able at Asian mar­kets, it should be kept refrig­er­ated in its con­tainer.

Pre­served Gin­ger

 

Also avai­l­able in Asian and spe­cialty mar­kets, this form has been pre­served in a sugar-salt mix­ture. It is gen­er­ally used as a con­fec­tion or added to desserts, and it is espe­cially good with mel­ons.

Gin­ger in Syrup

 

Gin­ger in syrup is fresh gin­ger that has been cooked in sugar and water, which cre­ates a sweet gin­ger flavoured syrup. The cooked gin­ger is then stored in the syrup and they are used in jams, sauces, and baked goods. The syrup can also be added to soda water and other ingre­di­ents to cre­ate a gin­ger flavoured bev­er­age.

Crys­tallized Gin­ger

 

Also known as can­died gin­ger, this form has been cooked in a sugar syrup until ten­der and then coated with gran­u­lated sugar. It is commonly used in desserts and can eas­ily be made at home.

Gin­ger Juice

 

The juice of gin­ger is another form that can be used for cooking and baking, making it an easy method to add gin­ger to foods. In most recipes it can be used instead of fresh or ground gin­ger, add­ing it to marinades, grilling sauces, salad dress­ings, stir-fried foods, meats, fish, poul­try, soups, and bev­er­ages, such as teas or fruit drinks. Gin­ger juice can be sub­stituted for ground or pow­dered gin­ger. 1 table­spoon of juice equals 1 table­spoon of fresh grated gin­ger or 1 tea­spoon of ground gin­ger.

Sub­stitu­tions

1/8 tsp ground gin­ger = 1 tbsp fresh grated gin­ger (though the flavour of ground gin­ger can be sig­nif­icantly differ­ent from fresh).

Flavour Affini­ties

• beef

• carrots

• chicken

• choco­late

• curry

• duck

• fish

• fruit

• ham

• honey

• ice cream

• melon

• onions

• pork

• pud­d­ings

• pumpkin

• rice

• salad

• saté

• seafood

• sesame oil

• soy sauce

• sushi

• sugar

• tomatoes