The knobbly rhizome of a tropical Asian plant — hot, sharp, lemony and fragrant when fresh, warm and sweet when dried — and one of the few spices used just as readily fresh, dried, pickled and candied.
Where it comes from
Ginger is native to tropical Asia and has been grown in India and China for so long that no wild form is known. It reached the Mediterranean in antiquity and was, with pepper, the cheapest and most common spice of medieval Europe, used in everything from gingerbread to sauces for fish; the Spanish carried it to Jamaica, whose ginger is still considered among the finest. India and China grow most of it now.
Fresh and dried ginger are almost different spices. The fresh rhizome is juicy, sharp and citrusy and is the ginger of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Southeast Asian savoury cooking; dried and ground it becomes warmer, sweeter and more peppery, and is the ginger of European baking and of Middle Eastern and Moroccan spice blends. Galangal, the Thai and Indonesian relative, is a different rhizome — piny, sharper, more medicinal — and is not a substitute.
Varieties
- Fresh (mature) ginger — Firm, tan-skinned, fibrous; sharp and hot. The everyday ginger for savoury cooking, grated or sliced.
- Young (spring) ginger — Thin pale skin, pink tips, tender and juicy, mild. For pickling — the pink ginger with sushi — and eating raw.
- Dried ground ginger — Warm, sweet, peppery; for gingerbread, cakes, chai masala, ras el hanout and Chinese five-spice.
- Galangal — A different rhizome, hard and piny; the ginger of Thai tom yum and Indonesian pastes. Not interchangeable.
- Pickled and candied ginger — Young ginger in sweet vinegar (gari); mature ginger cooked in syrup and dried (stem ginger, crystallised ginger).
- Jamaican ginger — Prized for a clean, bright, less harsh flavour; the ginger of ginger beer.
In the kitchen
Peel it with the edge of a spoon, which follows the knobs where a knife cannot, or leave the skin on young ginger. Grate on a fine grater for juice and pulp, slice into coins to flavour a broth and remove, or cut into fine matchsticks for a stir-fry. Fresh ginger’s heat and aroma fade with long cooking, so a Chinese dish often uses it twice — early and at the end.
Ground ginger belongs in baking and spice mixes and does not replace fresh in a stir-fry or a curry paste; nor does fresh replace ground in a gingerbread. Ginger, garlic and spring onion are the base of Chinese cooking; ginger and garlic pounded together, the base of northern Indian.
Choosing and keeping
Choose fresh ginger that is heavy, firm and taut-skinned, and snaps cleanly; wrinkled, soft or mouldy ends mean age. Unpeeled, in the fridge, it keeps two or three weeks; peeled and frozen it grates beautifully from frozen and keeps for months.
Ground ginger keeps a year sealed away from light. Young ginger is a spring and early summer thing in Asian shops and does not keep long.
Dishes with ginger
Tagineslow-braised meat, vegetables, olives or prunes cooked in a conical earthenware potCameroonKilishiBeef sliced paper thin, sun-dried, coated in spiced groundnut paste and dried againMyanmarShan NoodlesRice noodles with garlicky chicken-tomato sauce and pickled greens
ShitoDark hot pepper sauce of dried fish, shrimp and spices
OkonomiyakiSavory cabbage pancake grilled with pork, sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakesRwandaRwandan teaBrisk high-altitude black tea grown on the Congo-Nile ridge
ClacloSweet fried ripe-plantain dough balls spiced with ginger and chili
Japanese Curry RiceThick mild curry with potatoes, carrots and meat over riceGinger is tagged on 781 dishes from 148 countries in the atlas. These notes are written from general knowledge and carry no per-fact citation — see About.