Ginger

Sep 12 20:38 UTC 1997

I buy fresh ginger at the grocery store, as a big rooty thing.  I chop off
what I need and leave the rest in the freezer.  It keeps for a long time.

Recently, without intentionally doing anything unusual, I seem to have bought
an absolutely wonderful hunk of ginger.  Chopping bits of it into foods added
a magic as wonderful as the magic of garlic.  It was great!  "Aha," I thought,
"I've finally learned to properly appreciate ginger!"

I worked my way through that hunk of ginger the same as any other one.  It
sat in the freezer over the course of months, the same as any other hunk of
ginger.

Eventually, it was all gone and I bought a new hunk of ginger.  Alas, this
one isn't magic.  It tastes like any other hunk of ginger.

So, I'm wondering if anybody out there has advice about buying good ginger
roots.  Was my amazing piece of ginger a fluke?  Or is it something that can
be repeated?  I think I might have bought it at Whole Foods.  Does Whole Foods
know something about ginger that the rest of us don't know?

Thanks....

response 2 of 20:

Sep 18 13:22 UTC 1997

Or, are there multiple varieties of ginger?

Or, Valerie's ginger-to-die-for had been allowed to ripen a
bit more before harvest?

response 4 of 20:

Oct 29 06:40 UTC 1997

Out of curiousity, was it spicier then normal?

response 6 of 20:

Jan 19 01:17 UTC 1998

Well, when jars of minced ginger became available four or five
years ago I was thrilled.  Prior to that I didn't make a whole
lot calling for fresh ginger so I always ended up buying hunks
and watching them wilt away, mostly unused.  Too, I used to try
to put it through a garlic press, and that was nasty.

But a few days ago a friend, who is an excellent cook, gave me
a very fast and simple recipe she'd found for a gingered pork
and baby pea stir-fry.  But, she said, you *must* use freshly
grated ginger.  

So today I went to Kitchen Port, bought one of the washboard-type
porcelain ginger graters, a hunk of ginger root from Kroger's, 
and made the dish.  Wow!  What a difference both in taste and
aroma from the bottled stuff.  The recipe is fast and healthy
and I'll mostly certainly be making it again.

So, now I'm newly interested in ginger.  Last night, at
Zanzibar, we shared some ginger sorbet that was wonderful.
I'd like to try a recipe for ginger muffins.  I feel an
obsession coming on. ;-)

response 8 of 20:

Dec 25 04:10 UTC 2013

And here I thought we were talking about pale girls with freckles and bright
orange hair.

response 10 of 20:

Dec 25 20:26 UTC 2013

Resp:9 We are not able to grow our own root vegetables/spices, but I do
know frozen, grated/crushed ginger is great. We love using Dorot frozen ginger,
garlic and basil cubes.

So, no chance of the other kind of ginger (pale girls with freckles and bright
orange hair)? 

response 12 of 20:

Dec 27 04:51 UTC 2013

Resp:11 We are hoping to find an apt with a flat roof, so we can garden.
Our balcony has shade all day, all year.