Cooking with ginger plants

[jbird1264]

I do quite a bit of cooking/canning with ginger root, and I also enjoy pickling my own ginger, so I thought I'd try to grow it at home. I never had much luck, but this year, I have had pretty good results. If you've never seen a ginger plant, it grows in really long (3-4 feet) stalks that resemble bamboo, and most people usually harvest just the root. Last week on the Food Channel, I saw a recipe that called for ginger, and the host, instead of using the root, chopped up the greens and used them. Has anyone here used the green stalk for cooking? If so, what sorts of dishes would you use it/have you used it in? Would you use it in the same way that you'd use bamboo in stir-fry?

jbird

 

[gearchow]

Can't answer your question about using the tops, but you mentioned pickling ginger - like in Japanese gari? I would love to know how to do that. gari is one of my favorites in this world.

-jim

 

[jbird1264]

Jim,

It's much easier than you'd think. Peel and slice about a pound of ginger, and sprinkle a tablespoon of salt on the ginger. After an hour, pat the ginger dry, and put it in a jar. Boil 12 oz. of good rice vinegar, and dissolve 1 cup of sugar in the vinegar. When the sugar is dissolved, pour the rice/vinegar mixture over the ginger.

There are a few things that you should keep in mind. 1) Try to slice the ginger very thin. If you slice it too thick, it will not soften up too much, and your ginger will always have the texture of a sliced carrot. 2) Use the freshest ginger you can find. 3) The ginger will turn slightly pink (the fresher the pinker) after you add the mixture, but it will not be as pink as the commercially available stuff. 4) Feel free to tinker with the vinegar/sugar ratio. Let me know how yours turns out.

jbird

 

[gearchow]

We finally got around to doing this. Sent the wife to the Asian market for the ginger - always the cheapest and freshest has been my experience. Used a mandolin to slice, darn easy. I didn't use enough sugar and after it sat for a couple of days, I added more. It is now sweet with a bite, my mouth is watering here thinking about it.

With a mandolin, it is an easy operation. Peeling (actually I scraped the skin off using the edge of a sharp knife) is tedious, but not difficult.

I've read and believe that ginger is good for you, so I try to take a bit every day, which isn't difficult.

It's also one of our favorite marinade ingredients. shoyu and pickled ginger and your 3/4 of the way there.

thanks,
jim

 

[mouscacha]

I found that using the spoons edge works best for scraping the skin off Ginger. Only problem is, if you're working in small batches, you'll scrape off more than you need. Unless you're really good with that spoon =p

 

[Alacrity59]

I agree . . . a spoon works very well. I like ginger in a marinade for beef . . . and in cookies.

 

[gearchow]

I'll give the spoon a try next time. I'm not that familiar with ginger in cookies other then ginger snaps, which I'm ambivalent to.

hmmm, I just looked up a recipe for ginger snaps - maybe it's cinnamon that I'm ambivalent to...

-jim