kimpossible
10-20-2004, 12:10 PM
credit to here (http://scsc.essortment.com/gingerplant_rztq.htm) for text below
Ginger plant, whether fresh, dried, or ground, remains one of the favorite spices and cooking ingredients in Asian and Oriental cuisine.
History has it that the Chinese scholar Confucius spiced all of his dishes with ginger, and that 3,000-year old Sanskrit writing from India makes mention of ginger not only as a cooking ingredient but as a medicine. In fact, the ginger root, which is actually a rhizome, is now corroborated by Western herbalists as an effective therapeutic remedy for digestive problems, inflammatory disorders like arthritis, and even colds and coughs.
The gingerroot's fiery, bitter and spicy taste, delicious aroma, and curative properties come from its essential oils called gingerols. Along with its crisp and rough texture that promotes digestion, ginger also contains minerals, proteins, and vitamins A and B. One of the favorite spices in Asia, ginger not only adds distinct flavor to dishes but also provides numerous medicinal therapies. It is a known antibacterial, stimulates the heart and circulatory system, and also suppresses nausea, making it an excellent remedy for motion sickness.
Chinese cooking makes good use of ginger in fish, duck, chicken, pork, beef, and seafood dishes. Indian cuisine, on the other hand, exploits the ginger in most of the curry-based dishes. In Japan, pickled ginger (cured in salt, vinegar and sugar, and tinted red) is a favorite partner of sushi and sashimi. Ginger is also the base ingredient of the ubiquitous ginger ale, ginger beer, ginger snaps, and gingerbread.
When buying ginger, choose the roots that are firm, smooth, and not too wrinkled. You can keep fresh ginger in plastic wraps or aluminum foil, stored in the refrigerator to last for several weeks. Fresh gingerroot can also be peeled, sliced and frozen for later use.
Dried and powdered ginger is commercially available and can be used just like the root but the aroma and spiciness of a batch of freshly grated ginger is most preferred.
To make your own bottles of pickled ginger, peel and slice fresh gingerroots and soak them in covered jars filled with dry sherry or rum. Store them in the refrigerator and serve with poultry, rice, and curry dishes.
Ginger doesn't really seem to belong to any one culture's cooking, so I think most, if not all, of us are very used to its use in cooking.
All I have to share are tips for storage and easy use. I always keep a chunk fresh for daily use. I also cut some into little chunks about the size of the tip of my pinky and store it in the freezer. This is my emergency stash for soups, stews, or maybe frying veggies if I'm out of fresh or I find that I need to use all my fresh ginger for another purpose and I don't want to go out for more. You can also do that if it looks like you have more ginger than you can use before it goes bad. Additionally, I store a small solid chunk no bigger than my palm great for grating. The fiber of the ginger is hard to deal with fresh but if it's frozen it just seems to shatter and you don't get the fibrous build-up.
Never try to use previously frozen ginger thawed to cut into chunks. Well, you could but the texture is too weird and the juice will separate from the fiber. You're better off using the pre-cut frozen chunks straight from freezer to cookpot.
I almost never peel ginger unless there's a little funkiness to the skin which I'll nick off. I don't think it makes a great difference so peeled or whole is more of a personal preference depending on how the ginger is to be used, of course.
There is one instance where I will peel the ginger, cutting it into small chunks and passing it through a garlic press. Sometimes I just want to use ginger essence without the fiber. The flavor seems more delicate; a lot of the flavor without the bite. Off the top of my head, I use this for a miso-honey glaze I put on salmon fillets. No recipe. Just miso, honey (or sometimes molasses - good calcium source), ginger essence (a lot) and some rice wine.
Ginger is also considered a 'hot' food, so it goes well with 'cold' foods, like crab. My favorite sauce for dipping crab is a handful of shredded ginger steeped in just enough vinegar to cover it. If the crab is very fresh and not very salty, I will add some soy sauce to the vinegar-ginger mix.
You know the drill. Share your recipes, stories or opinions on ginger. Any type of ginger.
Ginger plant, whether fresh, dried, or ground, remains one of the favorite spices and cooking ingredients in Asian and Oriental cuisine.
History has it that the Chinese scholar Confucius spiced all of his dishes with ginger, and that 3,000-year old Sanskrit writing from India makes mention of ginger not only as a cooking ingredient but as a medicine. In fact, the ginger root, which is actually a rhizome, is now corroborated by Western herbalists as an effective therapeutic remedy for digestive problems, inflammatory disorders like arthritis, and even colds and coughs.
The gingerroot's fiery, bitter and spicy taste, delicious aroma, and curative properties come from its essential oils called gingerols. Along with its crisp and rough texture that promotes digestion, ginger also contains minerals, proteins, and vitamins A and B. One of the favorite spices in Asia, ginger not only adds distinct flavor to dishes but also provides numerous medicinal therapies. It is a known antibacterial, stimulates the heart and circulatory system, and also suppresses nausea, making it an excellent remedy for motion sickness.
Chinese cooking makes good use of ginger in fish, duck, chicken, pork, beef, and seafood dishes. Indian cuisine, on the other hand, exploits the ginger in most of the curry-based dishes. In Japan, pickled ginger (cured in salt, vinegar and sugar, and tinted red) is a favorite partner of sushi and sashimi. Ginger is also the base ingredient of the ubiquitous ginger ale, ginger beer, ginger snaps, and gingerbread.
When buying ginger, choose the roots that are firm, smooth, and not too wrinkled. You can keep fresh ginger in plastic wraps or aluminum foil, stored in the refrigerator to last for several weeks. Fresh gingerroot can also be peeled, sliced and frozen for later use.
Dried and powdered ginger is commercially available and can be used just like the root but the aroma and spiciness of a batch of freshly grated ginger is most preferred.
To make your own bottles of pickled ginger, peel and slice fresh gingerroots and soak them in covered jars filled with dry sherry or rum. Store them in the refrigerator and serve with poultry, rice, and curry dishes.
Ginger doesn't really seem to belong to any one culture's cooking, so I think most, if not all, of us are very used to its use in cooking.
All I have to share are tips for storage and easy use. I always keep a chunk fresh for daily use. I also cut some into little chunks about the size of the tip of my pinky and store it in the freezer. This is my emergency stash for soups, stews, or maybe frying veggies if I'm out of fresh or I find that I need to use all my fresh ginger for another purpose and I don't want to go out for more. You can also do that if it looks like you have more ginger than you can use before it goes bad. Additionally, I store a small solid chunk no bigger than my palm great for grating. The fiber of the ginger is hard to deal with fresh but if it's frozen it just seems to shatter and you don't get the fibrous build-up.
Never try to use previously frozen ginger thawed to cut into chunks. Well, you could but the texture is too weird and the juice will separate from the fiber. You're better off using the pre-cut frozen chunks straight from freezer to cookpot.
I almost never peel ginger unless there's a little funkiness to the skin which I'll nick off. I don't think it makes a great difference so peeled or whole is more of a personal preference depending on how the ginger is to be used, of course.
There is one instance where I will peel the ginger, cutting it into small chunks and passing it through a garlic press. Sometimes I just want to use ginger essence without the fiber. The flavor seems more delicate; a lot of the flavor without the bite. Off the top of my head, I use this for a miso-honey glaze I put on salmon fillets. No recipe. Just miso, honey (or sometimes molasses - good calcium source), ginger essence (a lot) and some rice wine.
Ginger is also considered a 'hot' food, so it goes well with 'cold' foods, like crab. My favorite sauce for dipping crab is a handful of shredded ginger steeped in just enough vinegar to cover it. If the crab is very fresh and not very salty, I will add some soy sauce to the vinegar-ginger mix.
You know the drill. Share your recipes, stories or opinions on ginger. Any type of ginger.