543596 Tue Jul 29 11:46:44 -0700 2008 11 31 Home Cooking 0 3911735 I read that you can peel fresh ginger root and store it in the freezer, and then just grate it to use. Anyone try this? How long will it stay fresh? Tue Jul 29 11:46:45 -0700 2008 54043 ejpnyc 1 3911773 Yep, I've done this for years. Always works just fine. Will stay for a very, very long time---as in months! Tue Jul 29 11:56:23 -0700 2008 3911735 15697 jackie de 1 3911808 I used to. It works well enough. But I now prefer to keep it in the refrigerator. I prefer how the ginger stays closer in pungency and texture to how I like it. It doesn't last forever, though. It shrivels up day by day. Perhaps someone can report to you/us about keeping it in a pot of cool sand. Tue Jul 29 12:04:33 -0700 2008 3911735 166172 saltwater 1 3911843 I used to store it in the freezer, but I realized that I use so much ginger and I go through it so quickly that I don't need to. It's a lot easier to grate ginger when it's fresh rather than frozen...my fingers don't freeze! Tue Jul 29 12:12:53 -0700 2008 3911735 13700 ricepad 1 3911894 I don't care for the texture of the ginger after it is frozen. For short term (<mon) I wrap the rhizome in a paper towel and seal it in a plastic ziplock bag. Each time I take it out to use some, I replace the paper towel. If you are in a place where you can and are of a mind to, a better idea is to maintain it in a pot. I keep a nursery container with growing ginger, galangal, and turmeric growing all the time. (I am trying to get "white" turmeric to sprout now without success) Here, (Austin, TX) all of these grow actively from about April/May until November. Then the foliage dies back and the containers have to be protected from freezing until the sprout again in spring. One of the best things about this is that when the ginger is growing rapidly, you can dig and use new ginger that is very, very, aromatic, tender and free of fiber, with skin that comes off by rubbing it with your hands. All year long you have absolutely fresh ingredients for the price of a little water and fertilizer. The same, by the way, applies to lemon grass. Tue Jul 29 12:22:11 -0700 2008 3911735 209227 akachochin 2 3912460 Cook's Illustrated tested a variety of methods for storing ginger and found uncovered in the refrigerator worked best in terms of preserving texture and flavor. Tue Jul 29 14:36:31 -0700 2008 3911894 11122 tweetie 2 3912964 I agree. I use a lot of ginger; I keep it buried in a window box, dig it up, cut off what I need, and re-bury it.d It doesn't simply keep; it regenerates, sort of budding like yeast. Tue Jul 29 17:18:57 -0700 2008 3911894 15025 hlbones 3 3914977 Hlbones: This intrigues me. What type of soil do you bury it in? Do you water it? Expose it to sunlight? How deep do you bury it? I'm looking forward to trying this! Wed Jul 30 09:24:30 -0700 2008 3912964 46305 amela 1 3912833 My husband the chef keeps his peeled in a jar of vermouth. Tue Jul 29 16:29:04 -0700 2008 3911735 145206 SSqwerty 1 3915017 no, I buy as much fresh ginger as I need, use it, and then when I need some more I buy another fresh batch. Wed Jul 30 09:33:08 -0700 2008 3911735 26725 swsidejim 1 3922680 I peel it, and keep it in a small jar of sherry in the frig. And if a recipe calls for sherry, I use some of that. Fri Aug 01 13:22:05 -0700 2008 3911735 194782 amacd 2 3922937 Yes! Learned this in a Chinese cooking class decades ago and have kept ginger that way from that day to this. Fri Aug 01 14:40:49 -0700 2008 3922680 137881 BerkshireTsarina