I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Speed technique: Freezing ginger
I like to keep a knob of ginger on hand, but I often don’t use it all up before it starts to shrivel up and lose its potency. Last week a friend gave me a whole bag of ginger and I knew there was no way I could use it in time, so I consulted the Japanese books on freezing and found that ginger can be frozen both sliced and grated. An ingenious way to store grated ginger is to form it into a long, skinny cylinder in plastic wrap, and freeze it. When you’re ready to use some, just break or cut off as much as you need and return the rest to the freezer! Convenient for adding quick flavor to a dish that you’re cooking for a speedy lunch or dinner.
I have a couple of special ginger graters, but a Microplane rasp-type grater also does an okay job. Ceramic ginger graters (like this and this) and metal ones below do produce a nicer, silkier product without the fibrous strings, and collect the juice in a little reservoir in the grater. Worthwhile if you grate a lot of ginger, otherwise don’t sweat it.
You can also freeze pre-sliced (or julienned) ginger. Just peel and slice, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze in another container (freezer bag or plastic container like tiny Tupperware) to prevent freezer burn.
Tip on peeling ginger: use the edge of a spoon to quickly and easily scrape off the thin peel without wasting ginger.
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READ MORE:
- Bulk freezing tip: Create individual portions in freezer bags
- Freeze green onions in plastic drink bottles
- Magnets to track freezer inventory
- Cycle through freezer items quickly
- All freezing-related posts on Lunch in a Box
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
May 4th, 2007 | Categories: freezing, tips | 
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May 4th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Excellent timing on your part! I just had some ginger that despite Press’N Seal and refrigeration, had started to go ew-yuck on me. This will work nicely.
But… now I need to organise my freezer. :/
May 4th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I generally cut my ginger into 1″ chunks (standard amount for most Indian-style dishes I make) and freeze the chunks. I find it’s easier to work with (chopping, grating, etc) the frozen chunks than the fresh ginger.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
I do the exact same thing. It works perfectly especially because it’s easier to peel and grate when still frozen!
May 5th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Me too. But freezing the grated ginger is a great idea, too. It’s even faster when you need it. And it’s just once you need to spend the time to grate a whole lot of it :o)
May 5th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Nice to know how to freeze ginger — but too bad that where I live (Turkey) ginger doesn’t seem to exist! How do you grow the stuff? I’ve got the craving…
May 5th, 2007 at 7:24 am
I just freeze the whole ginger hand and grate it frozen as needed. It’s really easy to grate frozen, and the skin comes off as you grate so you don’t need to peel.
May 5th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
What a GREAT tip!!! I’m going to do this from now on. Thanks for a great site
May 5th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
One of these days I’ll organize my freezer and take a picture — the Shufu no Tomo freezing book is chock full of freezer organizational tips. Makes me feel very un-Martha!
May 5th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Two important descriptives, ‘un-Martha’ and ‘Alton-like’.
Every time I think about that sesame-toasting pan, Alton pulls me up short (’uni-tasker!’).
May 5th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
My pleasure steamy! Beautiful and interesting blog, by the way — truly inspirational!
May 5th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Ooh, I don’t have a green thumb — perhaps someone else can chime in on this?
May 6th, 2007 at 12:05 am
I strive for Alton-like multitasking in my kitchen equipment, but the Japanese dollar stores are my weakness… I got my sesame-toasting pan for 100 yen a decade ago, but I wouldn’t pay a lot for one. You could always jury-rig one with a regular frying pan and a splatter screen. I think Alton would approve!!!
May 6th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Since I have no Japanese dollar stores, that’s exactly my plan. And I have cast iron! ^_^
(Although after the mess the other night, I think I will pop for a tamago pan… did you know they carry them at World Market?)
May 6th, 2007 at 12:15 am
That’s CostPlus, right? Good tip (as long as the price is right)! BTW, I just added the jury-rig idea to the description of the sesame toasting pan in my store — McGuyering your own tools can be just as much fun as acquiring new kitchen gadgets!
May 6th, 2007 at 12:25 am
I think I’ll do all of them so that I have all kinds on hand — big chunks, slices, julienne sticks, and grated. I still have about half of the big bag from my friend left. I like the frozen grated ginger because where I’d been using the ginger in a tube (S&B stuff, like the wasabi in a tube) in a pinch, it’s got extraneous ingredients in it — not just ginger. I’m all for short ingredient lists.
May 6th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Thanks! I’ll add that to the repertoire so I have all kinds of ginger on hand — whole, big chunks, slices, julienne sticks, and grated. I still have about half of the big bag from my friend left and I’m feeling lazy.
May 6th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Yup - they kinda run the names together, apparently. We just got a big one built near work not long ago. Their pan, according to their website, is $14, same as Amazon’s. I think. The only cheaper I’ve seen has been Bento Obento’s $10 one, but there’s the question of how sturdy a handle.
Woohoo! Alton has to be High Priest of the Church of McGyverism. I remember his drying rack and his cardboard-box smokers….
BTW, I remember you mentioning a pan you stopped using because the handle got too hot. I found this ‘hot handle mitt’ critter at the heavenly Lodge Manufacturing Outlet Store, and it’s been great. I use it on the cast iron and my Visions glass cookware, and it holds the spatter-screen in position when you slide its handle into the mitt as well.
May 6th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Oh, I know where Bento Obento (BentoTV) sourced that $10 pan from — it was either $1 or $1.50 at Ichiban Kan in San Francisco’s Japantown. It’s very small and not very good quality, but I don’t mind for $1.50 (I’ve got that tiny one for two eggs and a better-quality larger one for four eggs, but not the really huge square one).
I’ve got similar hot handle covers in silicone and leather, but I just gave up on the ridiculous tiny pan — bad balance (pan wouldn’t stay balanced on the burner), and the very short handle made it hard to use the handle covers. More trouble than it was worth, plus Bug and his friends like to play with it! Better toy than pan.
May 6th, 2007 at 2:05 am
She does have some… creative… markups, doesn’t she. Ya pay for convenience. I’ll check out the World Market one next week and give you a review.
Ooo, leather cover? Nice.
I’ve got various sizes of Lodge, including the ickle one they sell as a spoon rest. I seasoned it, and I’ve cooked a bit in it. ^_^ My mother was into Revereware, so I’ve got a lot of that now, but I usually grab the Visions glass first. I’ve got this thing for cranberry-red, see….
May 6th, 2007 at 5:35 am
Good idea.
I wonder how much work it would be to make pickled ginger? Like the slices you eat with sushi? I love those, I can eat them to practically anything just like regular pickles…
May 6th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I voted for your blog yesterday. I am learning a lot from your tips and look forward to reading it everyday.
May 6th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Thank you for the vote and the kind comments! I’ll try to keep it interesting…
May 7th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Did you see I linked to your post on: http://www.wellfed.net
May 7th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Ooh, very cool! People coming over from Well Fed might also be interested in this tip: Using refrigerator magnets to track freezer inventory. SlashFood picked it up last month.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Actually, it looks quite simple! I checked it out in the The Joy of Pickling
by Linda Ziedrich — looks like young ginger is better suited to this than the mature ginger that I have, though. Someone else has reprinted the recipe here (hopefully with permission): http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/appetizers/pickles/jappickginger.html I picked up this book at an organic winery in Sonoma Valley (Preston) to get into pickling (pickling recipes from all over the world), but I haven’t yet taken the plunge.
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm
You can do the same for garlic. Just mince the garlic and store them in a ziplock bag or plastic wrap, and store in freezer. I have a tuppleware in the freezer to store all these frozen condiments wrapped in plastic wrap. Take a tiny amount out every time you need to use it.
May 24th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Right you are! The freezing books say that it can also be frozen whole, sliced, chopped or grated, with different freezing tips for the different forms. I should probably do a post on that — sounds convenient.
August 2nd, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I buy large packs of ginger and garlic, whiz them in the food processor and press them into shallow plastic trays. Then I mark them into squares, pack in zip-locs and when frozen just turn them out and break into cubes.
The processor is great for chopping curly leafed parsley too (pop in the thin stalks near the leaves as well). So handy for salsas, sauces, dressing, etc.
August 4th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
@28 from Eileen:
Good tip, Eileen — thanks for sharing!!
December 4th, 2007 at 7:24 am
[...] over at Lunch In A Box discovered an ingenious way to store grated ginger. Form it into a long, skinny cylinder, wrap it [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Another ginger storage tip I got from Cook’s Illustrated is to peel and slice it, and store it in a small jar filled with cooking sherry. The ginger stays fresh in the liquor, and the sherry takes on a slight ginger flavor for cooking.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
@31 from Kittypants- that sounds really yummy! I like using sherry for cooking so that seems like it would work swimmingly.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I do this for making curries but I pop it into ice cube trays and then bag it when frozen. Also works for fresh coriander (cilantro) - I buy both in bulk in an Indian market in east London.
I like Kittypants’ idea in comment 31 too … lovely!
June 28th, 2008 at 8:08 am
[...] http://lunchinabox.net/2007/05/04/speed-technique-freezing-ginger/ [...]
July 26th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
[...] Another clever way to store ginger is to grate the entire root into a piece of clear plastic, roll, wrap and freeze it in stick form which will allow you to break off pieces which can be melted into sauces or blend into fruit drinks. That nifty idea is from this site: http://lunchinabox.net/2007/05/04/speed-technique-freezing-ginger/ [...]
November 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Love the freezing idea! Another way to keep ginger fresh is to put some sand in a small container with small amount of water… then place bottom end of ginger in sand. Keeps fresh till needed.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:11 am
[...] Ingwer schälen, schneiden, eine lange Rolle formen und diese in Plastik-Gefrierfolie einwickeln. Zum Verwenden einfach etwas von der gefrorenen Ingwerstange abgebrechen. [...]
December 5th, 2009 at 11:07 am
[...] the original idea came from Lunch in a Box. There are some other useful tips for storing and cooking with ginger on both blogs. Share [...]
January 6th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
[...] Another clever way to store ginger is to grate the entire root into a piece of clear plastic, roll, wrap and freeze it in stick form which will allow you to break off pieces which can be melted into sauces or blend into fruit drinks. That nifty idea is from this site: http://lunchinabox.net/2007/05/04/speed-technique-freezing-ginger/ [...]
January 16th, 2010 at 9:48 am
[...] shows us how to avoid this in her article about how to freeze ginger. Read the full article. (via Lunch in a Box, May 2007) Share and [...]
May 28th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
[...] but less chopping. The grated ginger was one of the earliest and best tips I’ve learnt from bento blogger, Biggie – simply peel and grate your ginger as you would, but wrap any leftovers tightly in [...]
June 8th, 2010 at 7:01 am
[...] like to just freeze the whole roots, because it’s so simple. But Biggie, at LunchInABox.net has a pretty cool way of freezing grated ginger. var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname=”Freezing Ginger”; [...]
February 17th, 2012 at 9:02 am
[...] tip: Frozen Ginger. This is absolutely [...]
April 2nd, 2013 at 7:06 am
[...] Peel and freeze. Easy. Frozen ginger makes grating simple. Also, check out this page from Lunch In A Box for more ideas about freezing [...]