You only need a small piece of fresh ginger for most dishes.
Tip 1 for correct storage: Don’t buy too much ginger
If you want to enjoy fresh ginger for as long as possible, you must not buy old tubers. Old ginger is very difficult to store. You can recognize fresh produce by the fact that the tuber feels firm and heavy. Ginger that is no longer as dewy is softer and has a wrinkled skin.
Also, don’t buy too much ginger at once. For most recipes you only need a few slices, the rest is often forgotten and eventually ends up in the bin. So you should consider beforehand how much ginger you need and how you want to use it.
Tip 2: Store ginger outside of the refrigerator
If your fresh ginger root is still unpeeled and uncut, you can store it in a dark and cool place outside the refrigerator. The pantry is best for this. You can store fresh ginger there for several weeks. Wrap it up completely in a paper towel beforehand and then put it in a sealable container or paper bag.
Sliced ginger can also be stored outside the refrigerator for some time. Store it in a dark and cool place. While the interface may become a bit woody and hard over time, the ginger flesh stays fresh and you can keep using it.
Tip 3: Store cut ginger in the fridge
If you want to store cut ginger in the fridge, you should make sure that it is kept as airtight as possible. There is high humidity in the refrigerator, which promotes the formation of mold in food.
Option 1: To prevent the ginger cut from drying out too much, you can cover it with reusable beeswax towels instead of plastic or aluminum foil. Place the fully wrapped ginger in a sealable can or paper bag.
Option 2: Alternatively, you can slightly dampen a cloth kitchen towel and wrap the ginger in it before storing it in the crisper of the fridge.
You can use these methods to keep sliced ginger fresh in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.
Tip 4: Freeze fresh ginger
If you always want to have a supply of ginger on hand, you can also freeze it. Proceed as follows:
Method 1: ginger pile
Peel the ginger and then grate it finely.
Use a spoon to form small mounds of the grated ginger.
Put these piles on a plate, which you then put in the freezer.
Once the ginger mounds are frozen, you can remove them from the plate and place them in a freezer bowl.
Method 2: ginger slices
Peel the ginger.
Cut it into strips or slices.
Place in a freezer-safe container and freeze.
You can pour hot water over the heaps or slices of ginger to make ginger tea or add them to dishes. Processed like this, the ginger will keep in the freezer for about 3 to 6 months.
Tip 5: Pot ginger and plant it yourself
Ginger is one of those foods that grows back on its own. This means that you can easily keep fresh ginger bulbs alive by planting them one at a time. In this way, you can also recycle ginger bulbs that have already sprouted. The ginger pieces sprout and form reed-like plants. After some time you can harvest fresh ginger bulbs for kitchen use.
Here you can find out how to plant ginger yourself.
Tip 6: Preserve ginger by pickling it
To prevent ginger from spoiling or becoming too woody and dry, you can preserve it by pickling it. Peeled, cut, grated and preserved in a vinegar broth, the ginger prepared in this way can be kept for up to six months. Pickled ginger is particularly popular with sushi.
Here are the instructions on how to pickle ginger.
