What to do with all this fresh ginger? Well, after I washed and trimmed it, I made a puree with added water and fresh lemon juice.
Now it looks like this...
Nice and creamy...
I used about 1 & 1/2 c. each of water and fresh trimmed, chopped ginger and about 1/2 c. fresh lemon juice (2 lemons). The recipe I was (somewhat) following said to strain it, but I think I'll leave it all in there. It will settle anyway. Juice at the top and solids at the bottom.
We had a curry dish the other night and because we are giving our daughter foods from the table these days, we added our own ginger "juice" to our dishes at the table. That way she wouldn't get too spicy a bite and we'd still get our ginger taste. Yum.
I want to try to make other things with it, maybe even make a version of ginger ale with it. Flavoring in cookies, cakes...?
The following recipe is one I used from the vegetarian cookbook, "A Celebration of Wellness," by James Levin and Natalie Cederquist.
Fresh Ginger Concentrate
1/2 c. fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
1 c. pure water
1/4 c. lemon juice
Liquefy all the ingredients in a blender for a couple of minutes. Strain into a glass jar and store in the fridge. Use this is stir frys, salad dressings, soups or sauces - or added to sparkling waters or juices. You can also add 1 tsp. to hot water as a beverage to increase your circulation. An easy way to have fresh ginger around. Make ahead and store in fridge. It saves preparation time.
Also from the same book: "Ginger...This tasty aromatic rhizome soothes the digestive system, stimulates the circulatory system, and acts as a decongestant. To make ginger tea, pour boiling water over a bit of chopped ginger root; it will warm you up on a chilly day."
7 comments:
I have used ginger for settling stomache upset for a long time.....but, when our oldest daughter was going thru a really difficult nausea-ridden pregnancy, ginger-ale was about the only thing that settled her (slightly) for several weeks.
I have sipped the tea and it is really good for nausea!
So....this might be a really good way to keep it around.
Hi Loretta, it's Andrea! :-)
Did you grow this ginger??? I planted some here in my Ohio garden, but nothing has come up yet. We love fresh ginger. Can you freeze that puree into cubes or something for later use. This is a great post, thanks so much!
oh wow.......freezing it in cubes sounds like a GREAT way to keep it longer!...and..would work for sipping when feeling yuck.
(ok...i'm not really obsessed with being nauseated,...except when you are pregnant and feeling horrible, you'll try anything!)
I love it when two readers give each other ideas!
No, I didn't grow it, the7gerbers, but it grows well here in Africa. I'm guessing that most of the growth happens underground, not sure how the plant looks above ground. Good to see you here. =)
I would think freezing this in cubes would be perfect like texasleslie points out. Maybe even measure it out, by teaspoons or tablespoons into the ice cube trays, then when frozen, put into another container or freezer bag and mark it "ginger puree" and the measurement of each cube for easy recipe use.
Just an interesting tidbit...My photo of the ginger (top photo in the post), shows my pile of fresh ginger, which is about two handfuls or so. It cost only about 35 US cents. I got 1 1/2 cups of washed, trimmed, and sliced ginger from that! They were all very nice and plump and creamy yellow inside (no green or brownish color). I should've taken a photo of that!
Thanks for reading.
Loretta
Wow! What a good idea...
ok, obviously, it's ginger-root discussion day! :-)
I just got back from the grocery and looked just for fun at the price of ginger-root here and it was $1.25/QUARTER pound!!
Quick!...find a way to bring back spices !.......can you dry some of your own and bring them back, or is there a ban on any food item coming thru customs?
Generally it is not a good idea, because security doesn't want the possible insects and crop diseases to get to the US and visa versa.
We have known people to get pineapples through but not without trouble. Sometimes they don't get through.
We will have wonderful memories and knowledge gained to bring back with us.
So buy local and grow things yourself. Never take it for granted again. I know I won't.
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