No need to use it gingerly

January 28, 2023 8:33 AM

As a result of a grocery order, I'm now the proud owner of a piece of ginger root approximately the size of my forearm. Quite a bit more than what I needed for a stir-fry. know it freezes well, but what else could I do with that much ginger?
posted by peppermind to Food & Drink (26 answers total)

Make ginger tea? Candied ginger is also pretty easy to make, and besides tasty eaten plain, and be chopped up and added to various baked goods.
posted by coffeecat at 8:35 AM on January 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

Two-for-one: Ginger syrup and candied ginger
posted by BrashTech at 8:35 AM on January 28, 2023 [7 favorites]

Pickled ginger. If you've got the climate for it, toss it into a pot with sandy soil and see if it sprouts!
posted by winesong at 8:49 AM on January 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

I use about that much for the flavoring in kombucha. You can also grind it up and freeze it in ice cube trays for later.

I like jamaica agua fresca with ginger and it goes like this: make a concentrate that is one quart of water, 1 cup of dried jamaica (hibiscus), and a 1/2 cup of grated ginger. Boil and let it sit overnight to steep then toss the solids. Dilute with a half gallon of water (or to taste) and sweeten with simple syrup.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:58 AM on January 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

Make gari!

There are also a billion and one recipes out there for fridge pickled gingery carrots, all with varying amounts and other ingredients depending on culture and seasonality. I’ve never made them myself but I’ve been gifted and bought a few variations and they are all delicious. I suspect almost any basic fridge pickle technique, plus thinly sliced ginger and bias cut carrot coins, would be great. I think the best one I have tasted also had lime or sour orange.
posted by Mizu at 8:58 AM on January 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

Steamed fish (whole if you like) with ginger and light soy sauce. One example. Ginger & green onions with a bit of oyster sauce is a great base for just about anything, as a sauce to cook any protein with. There's also scallion + ginger in oil and some salt that you can make as a type of condiment you can eat with anything, but especially as part of Hainanese chicken rice.
posted by cendawanita at 9:00 AM on January 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Figging is using peeled ginger root as a zingy insertable sex toy. Just FYI.
posted by Well I never at 9:10 AM on January 28, 2023 [14 favorites]

Yes to Chinese scallion ginger sauce! Basically you want to very finely pulverise ginger until it’s not stringy, with an equal amount of chopped or smashed green onions, a ton of salt, and douse it in some hot oil to mellow and blend the flavours. It is fantastic on chicken, rice, noodles, eggs, or really anything. It’s kind of like Chinese pesto, I guess. Truly delicious.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:27 AM on January 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

Just made this recipe for triple ginger cookies this week. Found it here on Askme a decade ago or so, it’s still good.
posted by nat at 9:30 AM on January 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

This doesn’t use a LOT, but I LOVE pickled carrots with a branch of rosemary and a couple slices of raw ginger thrown in. I made up that recipe and didn’t write it down, but it’s basically adding those things to a pickle recipe.
posted by centrifugal at 9:52 AM on January 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Brew your own ginger beer! Good on its own or in cocktails.
posted by dr. boludo at 10:26 AM on January 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

A lot of recipes that call for garlic can use ginger instead.
posted by Comet Bug at 10:48 AM on January 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I grind a big amount up in the vitamix and refrigerate it in a Tupperware. I put a big flop in my big, hot work tea for ma drive to work. Green or ginseng with honey. Since it’s already in a paste it’s very convenient. If I have to peel and chop it every day I wouldn’t use it so much.
posted by waving at 11:18 AM on January 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

Here's a quick and dirty ginger beer recipe;

Express Ginger Beer

About 4 oz fresh ginger root
Juice of one lemon
6 oz caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon yeast (preferably ale yeast, but baking yeast will do)

Grate the unpeeled ginger, using a microplane grater if possible, as otherwise it is rather hard work. Add a little hot water, mix, and strain through a sieve, collecting the juice in a bowl. Mix in the sugar, with a little more hot water to make it dissolve. Pour the mixture into a clean 2 l plastic bottle, then top up with cold water to within about 2 cm of the top. Add the yeast and shake a little to mix it in.

Leave the bottle to stand in a warm room overnight. The bottle should be hard to the touch, due to the production of gas. Carefully let off a little of the gas pressure when the bottle gets too hard, then store the bottle in the fridge. It should be ready to drink within 24-48 hrs depending on how warm it is and what sort of yeast you use, but storing it for longer makes it slightly more alcoholic.

It's probably wisest to open these carefully (gingerly, even) with the bottle standing in a sink, as it can be very fizzy indeed. Also, just note that ginger beer is not the same as ginger ale; ginger beer is cloudy and more or less slightly alcoholic.
posted by Fuchsoid at 11:54 AM on January 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

I love, love this ginger syrup for Moscow Mules. Husband also uses it to flavor his kombucha.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:06 PM on January 28, 2023

My morning cuppa is always a brew of some loose tea with some grated ginger. Started this at the beginning of COVID as an attempt to keep the virus out of the house and it's worked so far.
posted by Rash at 12:18 PM on January 28, 2023

A trick I learned from The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook: peel the ginger, cut into chunks, pack loosely into a jar, cover with dry or medium sherry. It will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator (I mean, several years), and it keeps much of its original flavor and texture. As a bonus, you can cook with the ginger-flavored sherry.
posted by mr vino at 1:06 PM on January 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

Ginger in small cubes (say quarter inch) dipped in Chocolate can be quite interesting. I know See's candy sell them like that (or used to).

Minced ginger mixed with mixed garlic is a great "flavor bomb" that can enhance variety of dishes for everything, from stirfry to roast to BBQ.

Minced ginger, salt, and a little oil is the basis of "Hainan Chicken"'s usual sauce.
posted by kschang at 1:11 PM on January 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

You can also throw ginger, sweet potato, water and maybe sugar in a pot and make this Chinese dessert soup. Very soothing. I never followed a recipe, just threw the ingredients in a rice cooker and enjoyed after some time...
posted by skunk pig at 1:16 PM on January 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ginger marmalade is delish; the younger the ginger the better, I think.
posted by clew at 1:46 PM on January 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

came to say the ginger syrup that others have mentioned. You can customize with clove and/or cinnamon. I use it to make old fashioned as well as to sweeten hot tea (with some bourbon).
posted by mmascolino at 3:21 PM on January 28, 2023

I've been enjoying keeping various combinations of ginger, hot pepper, lemon juice, and salt in the refrigerator. Use the hottest pepper you like and eyeball the proportions. No doubt an idea from another food AskMe but I should be watching Raiders of the Lost Ark with mrs. kingless (again!) instead of running down the reference. I'm looking forward to trying the ginger-in-sherry idea above.
posted by kingless at 3:57 PM on January 28, 2023

Ginger milk curd uses a lot of ginger and is a classic Cantonese desert. It is pretty sciencey tho and can be sort of tricky.
posted by fiercekitten at 11:14 PM on January 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Throw some into a food processor with an equal amount of garlic and a bit of water, for ginger-garlic paste, an essential ingredient in a lot of Indian food.
posted by redlines at 5:36 AM on January 29, 2023

We like using big pieces of ginger for this carrot and ginger stirfry from the book Beyond the Great Wall by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. It's easier to julienne the ginger when the pieces are big.
posted by profsnaggle at 12:09 PM on January 29, 2023

Hawaiian Ginger Chicken is served chilled or at least room temperature but I've had it warm and it was fine. I toss a couple thighs on top of the rice and water in my rice cooker, so it steam cooks (?) (I don't know how else to get this effect, it's not fried or roasted) and it is done when the rice is. Chop up a lot of ginger and scallions, add oil and pour over chicken when ready to eat. Food of the gods.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:43 AM on January 30, 2023