I have been enjoying using fresh ginger in everything lately!

a tble of fresh grated ginger adds almost no carbs and tons of flavor! besides this is one of those "good for you" things (ginger is antiinflamatory, and a very good tummy soother)

the flavor is outstanding it seems to be in seasion. I have gotten big fat juicy hands for 99 cents a lb

you can grate freeze it or just freeze it in hands (but it does come out watery when you thaw it, tastes the same texture is different)

anyway (I could not find a ginger thread?)
at .4 carbs per tbl I do a lot of things with it and would love to find more!

I love it mixed with grated fresh coconut in Fage for breakfast
I also put fresh grated ginger in chicken soup
in curry
in stir fry
in the muffin in a min
I make ginger tea hot and cold
make kimchi


what else can we make with fresh ginger?

I use ginger in my asian marinade. It's awesome! I should grate my ginger when I get it home and freeze some. But it's a bit of a pain.

it is a pain that is why I freeze it in chunks and then just grate it when it is partially thawed

I do not peel it either because the good therapeutic bennies are supposed to be right under the skin

just cut it into chunks and put it in a baggie

ginger tastes so good I think and so many uses! worth a little stock up I think

home made ginger ale just make intense tea sweeten to tast and add fizzy water

I make ginger beer by grating ginger in water and letting it ferment on the counter (LOL in a jar with a loose lid) when it is fizzy strain well add sweetener and enjoy

Ok how about this for breakfast
A lemon ginger smoothie with zucchini!
really good and very filling
induction friendly
toss the following in the blender
1 small zucchini
2-3 eggs
2 tbl cream
1 inch of chopped fresh ginger
1 tble lemon juice and some of the rind (optional but really good in there)
ice and a splash of water

blend, drink and have a happy day

Really? Boy, that makes it a lot easier!

Just ginger and water? That easy?

wow- ginger beer sounds delicious- any specific quantity of ginger and water that works best?

Ok this is what I do

take a glass jar
grate about 1/2 lb of washed but unpeeled ginger into it, fill it with purified or tap water
leave it open outside for a hour to catch wild yeast
add a pinch of sugar to feed the yeast (it will be gone when you drink it do not worry ..if you are totally not going to risk the sugar then leave it out I have and it came out fine)

then bring it in and cover it loosely leave it for 3 (give or take) days on the counter at room temp

taste for tang and fizz and voila you have ginger beer sweeten to taste

it is really sharp refreshing with lemon or lime in it

wonderful tummy soother!

I have had friends fail at it and can not figure out why it is very easy!

it does not have alcohol in it as far as I know it is about the same as letting cider sparkle

Wow, I had no idea you could do it so simply! The recipe in Nourishing Traditions says to add more sugar every day for a week, just as a preliminary step for making a ginger "bug!" I think I'll try it your way.

I've had friends fail at making sauerkraut, which I thought was the easiest possible fermentation. It's always so hard to figure out what to say! I have noticed that sauerkraut needs to be completely submerged, though - I wonder if that's the problem people have. Maybe another problem is chlorine in the water. Or maybe people are being "careful" and boiling or disinfecting everything? Exactly the wrong thing to do!

I literally add about 1/2 tsp of sugar one time and that is it
I learned to make this in the Islands and it is just ginger and water with a pinch of sugar there

I need to make it this weekend for sure just because I now have five pounds of fat juicy ginger hands

Good grief, where do you buy ginger in that quantity? I see it packaged in 3-4 oz plastic wrapped cardboard thingies in the store.

I'm wondering that too- my local grocer only has a few hands at any given time and today I went to get some for this and out of 5 hands, three were mushy and kind of gross, so the two I got only came out to about .5 lbs total.

If I make the beer then I'm out of ginger!

Sadly, I don't know of any good farmer's markets or anything here that carry ginger, so that I have to get at chain grocery stores.

Edit- HiD- I hope you don't mind, but I reposted your recipe in my journal. I gave you credit and everything, I just thought my J buddies might like it.

For the sake of clarity, how big a jar do you use? A Mason quart jar? A pint jar? Some other size?? I sure didn't realize there were yeasts floating around in the air outside and that 1 hour would gather enough to begin a fermentation! This looks like another of your tips that I'm going to have to try ... I'll add some ginger hands to my grocery list (along with the kale for chips).

Try asian grocers, you can usually buy it in bulk there for a decent price.

I was wondering the same thing. My guess is two quarts. Tell us, HiDelight!

Oh yes, it's the dirty little secret of the brewing industry. There's absolutely no point in buying yeast - it's impossible to avoid!

In fact, you don't even really need to wait an hour. If you ever want some yeast, just put a piece of unwashed fruit in your concoction.

To be fair, the industry rose up around ideals of consistency. In fact, pasteurization was not meant for sanitation originally - it was a way to make beer come out more consistently. First pasteurize it to remove the random microorganisms that are already there, then add your own yeast that makes a consistent type of brew that you like.

Brewers tend to frown on lactobacillus too. It makes drinks sour and reduces the alcohol content. However, lactobacillus, unlike yeast, is unequivocally good for you. It makes things sour in a very tasty way (much better than acetobacter, in my opinion), and reducing alcohol content isn't always a bad thing. Pasteurizing and adding packaged yeast cuts down on lactobacillus. "Wild" fermentation encourages it.

Great reminders/ideas.

Off to the supermarket after work tomorrow!