Grated Frozen Ginger

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I've always regarded ginger as a highly strung diva prone to fits and hysterics at the drop of the conductor’s baton. This unhappy state of affairs changed recently for the better after a moment of blinding inspiration. Now, the old girl is putty in my hands. And mercifully all the drama and screaming are at an end. Dear old ginger, never a dull moment indeed.

 

At the fresh produce market I usually frequent, ginger rhizomes are often to be found in various shapes, sizes, thicknesses, degrees of ‘knobbiness’ and stages of maturity. The levels of freshness during the year can vary significantly as well. Of course, all these inconsistent physical characteristics often present challenges in how to consistently measure out small quantities of fresh ginger for the low serving number recipes so often found on my blog.

 

I am a bachelor and a loner. These days I seldom cook for the madding crowds (4 – 6 portion quantities, or even larger). Which presents the problem: how to accurately measure out small quantities of fresh ginger reliably and consistently? I suppose I can prepare 60ml – 80ml “bulk” ginger paste with a small food processor and keep it handy. But, I don’t use ginger (fresh or ground) that often, so the small batch, “in bulk” paste rather quickly loses its bright, floral-aromatic aroma and flavours on storage in a refrigerator. In addition, the fresh, preservative free paste fairly quickly exudes water and develops a somewhat unpleasant, bitter undertone. Mostly the result of oxygen playing merry hell with the chemically very active flavour and taste compound molecules giving fresh ginger its vibrancy and zesty joi de vivre.

 

As an alternative I suppose the normal kitchen ginger & garlic press may be called upon. Yet, I don’t like these devices and actively avoid them. They are invariably finicky to operate, sometimes requiring the handgrip strength of the jaws of a moody crocodile on bad steroids. To boot, they crush and mash the ginger rather than cut clean, microscopic slices. Then, as a final affront, the little buggers are malignant horrors to clean properly afterwards. Although, I’ll admit, they’re often good for squeezing small volumes of ginger juice when the hopper is loaded with pea sized cubes of very fresh ginger.

 

When scaling down four to six portion recipes into smaller quantities, I strictly avoid simple mathematics. With intensely flavoured ingredients already present in small quantities in these six portion recipes, there is the significant risk that something gets “lost in translation” by merely scaling down using the brute mathematical process. The original character and subtleties of the recipe risk being skewed or altered using this blunt force method. I rely on intuition and experience, mostly, to realistically scale down.

 

For the dedicated perfectionist, I suppose we can resort to using a pharmacist’s electronic scale for serious measurement accuracy and precision. Although, maybe this is pushing the ‘perfectionist thing’ a wee too far. Anyway, these high precision scales don’t do too well in a hectic kitchen when you're busy and three or four recipes (or dishes) are in simultaneous preparation. Thankfully, more robust technology comes to the rescue in the form of efficient deep freezers and microplane graters. Which goes to show: irksome frustration now and then leads to a positive resolution.

 

This post is not a recipe as such, but is rather a method describing how to go to work to obtain reliable, consistent and accurate quantities of fresh, but frozen ginger for small batch applications and recipes. The method is simple:

1. Wash your unpeeled ginger rhizome(s) thoroughly. Trim off any scales, skin flaps and rough ends.
2. Dry the ginger rhizome(s) well. (I generally don’t peel the ginger at this point, particularly when its fresh and young.)
3. Transfer the rhizome(s) to a suitably sized Ziploc style bag and freeze at -18°C to -22°C.
4. When needed, grate the frozen ginger – peel and all – with a fine tooth microplane grater.
5. Gently, but quickly, scoop the still frozen ginger gratings into the chosen measuring spoon bowl until the bowl is evenly filled and resists taking more gratings.
6. Do not to tamp the gratings down too hard and squash them forcibly in when filling the spoon’s bowl. You will feel when the spoon’s bowl is full. Use a round tipped, flat, metal spatula to collect the defrosting gratings from your cutting board. You have to work fast here.
7. Do not force in extra material into the spoon’s bowl (however tempting), otherwise the consistency of this process becomes compromised.
8. A little bit of practice quickly develops consistency with this technique.

 

Et viola! A reliable and consistent means becomes available to accurately measure out fresh, frozen ginger without having to resort to the usual, unreliable “one inch section of peeled ginger cut into thin slices” or the equally ubiquitous “5ml / one teaspoon of julienned ginger”. Ever tried to julienne or finely dice ginger and consistently measure it out for a one or two portion recipe? It’s quite a challenge.

 

I did motion there’s no peeling involved either, haven’t I? Also, the method works equally well with more mature ginger rhizomes – which can be quite fibrous sometimes. A small tooth microplane grater makes short work of that undesirable characteristic provided the cook consistently grates perpendicular to the long axis of the rhizome.

 

And thus we tame the ginger cat at last. Dear old ginger, always feisty and rambunctious, never to be trifled with without gloves, suddenly quite the affable old moggy.

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© RS Young, 2024

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Blog Post Writing Trivia for the Curious:
1. Concept inception date :	11.05.2023
2. Initial pen to paper date :	09.11.2023
3. Number of document re-writes :	2
4. Number of revisions :	7
5. Date of final edit :	05.02.2024
6. Date of first post related photography :	06.02.2024
7. Date of last photography :	09.02.2024
8. Number of words (excluding links & captions) :	918

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