Storing ginger: storing & preserving

One large tuber of ginger is often enough for a long time. We explain the best way to store ginger and show you how it can be preserved.

Summer vacation beckons and you still haven't used up the rest of the ginger? No problem, because there are wonderful ways to keep ginger longer. As a carrot and ginger soup, in an Asian curry or baked in ginger biscuits, it unfolds fresher ginger (Zingiber officinale) has a wonderful taste, but it only gets really interesting when it comes to preserving it.

Save ginger

While you can only harvest your own ginger in the fall, that doesn't mean you have to go without it for the rest of the year. You can easily keep the rhizome fresh over the winter. For the summer half of the year there are countless possibilities how you can continue to enjoy the home-grown ginger. Even if you prefer to buy ginger fresh in the store, you will find some tips here for correct storage and delicious use.

Shelf life of ginger: how long does it stay fresh?

If stored properly, ginger can stay fresh for several weeks. Above all, it is important that it does not dry out and become fibrous, because then it can only be used for tea.

How to store and store ginger properly

You can also store intact ginger rhizomes outside of the refrigerator without any problems. To do this, wrap the ginger in a paper towel and put it in a cool and dark place. Ginger that has already been cut dries out faster. You should put this in a small screw-top jar and keep it in the refrigerator. This way the rhizome will stay fresh for at least three weeks.

Preserve ginger

Although ginger has a long shelf life when fresh, there are countless ways to preserve the ginger for a long time, depending on the taste.

Dry the ginger

Cut the ginger, peeled or unpeeled, into thin slices and place on a baking sheet to air dry in dry weather. Alternatively, you can also dry ginger in the oven, which is quite energy-consuming. To do this, slide the tray with the sliced ​​ginger into the oven at around 40 ° C and check regularly about every ten to twenty minutes whether the ginger has dried completely is. You can use the dried ginger for tea, for example.

Freeze the ginger

Ginger can also be frozen without any problems. You have to decide for yourself whether peeled or unpeeled. Unpeeled ginger can only be frozen for up to three months, while peeled ginger can be kept for at least six months. Of course, you can also freeze ginger in portions. To do this, cut the ginger into thin slices or grate the rhizome. Now place the pieces or rasp on a plate and freeze the whole thing. If the ginger is frozen through, you can now put it in a tin with a date or a freezer bag and freeze it permanently.

Soak ginger in vinegar

This type of preservation of ginger - also known as gari - is particularly well known to sushi connoisseurs. To make pickled ginger, you should first peel the rhizome and cut it into thin slices. Now sprinkle them with salt and let them sit for about an hour. Meanwhile, you can prepare the vinegar. Boil rice vinegar in the pan and add about two tablespoons of sugar for every 100 ml of rice vinegar. Then the salted ginger slices are briefly scalded with boiling water and then poured over with the sweetened vinegar. The whole thing should now be properly bottled and can be kept for at least six months.

Candying the ginger

For sweetness, candied ginger is just the thing. For every 100 grams of ginger you need around 150 grams of sugar and a piece of organic lemon. Peel the ginger and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Now slowly cook the ginger. You only need enough water to cover the ginger. It should simmer until it is done. After about 20 minutes, the time has come and you can add about a fifth of the sugar and briefly bring the brew to the boil again. You now have to let the ginger steep for at least twelve hours before simmering it again for about 20 minutes while adding another fifth of the sugar. You have to perform this step three times in total, always with a break of at least five hours. To refine it, you can add a few slices of lemon, which you remove in the last pass. On this last run, let the ginger simmer until it is translucent. Now you can free it from the pot and dry it on a baking sheet. It will be really pretty if you roll it in sugar.

Ginger syrup

To soak ginger in syrup, proceed similarly to candying. Instead of drying the ginger at the end, just leave it in the thickened syrup and fill the whole thing into screw-top jars.

If you've got a taste for it now and yourself Growing ginger If you want to, this article has everything you need to know about it.