Baby ginger is ginger harvested young, before it forms the tough tan skin and stringy fibers of grocery-store ginger. It’s creamy white with pink tips, juicy and tender enough to slice thin and eat. The flavor is bright and gingery without the harsh burn. Most of the ginger in the U.S. is shipped from far away, so fresh New England ginger is a short-season treat. The green stalks and leaves are useful too: they have a lemony ginger scent that’s great in tea, broth and rice.
No peeling needed. The skin is paper-thin, so just rinse and use.
Storing it fresh
- Root: Wrap the root loosely in a dry paper towel and keep it in a bag in the fridge. Baby ginger is juicier and more perishable than mature ginger, so use or preserve it within 2–3 weeks.
Ways to preserve the root
- Freeze it whole (this farmer’s method). Rinse, dry well and freeze in a zip-top bag. When you need some, grate it straight from the freezer with a Microplane. There’s no need to thaw, and it grates into a fluffy snow that melts into tea, soups, stir-fries and dressings. It keeps for a year.
- Freeze it as ginger paste cubes. Chop the ginger roughly and blend with just enough water to make a paste. Spoon into an ice cube tray, about 1 tablespoon per cube, and freeze. Pop the cubes into a bag. Drop one straight into a pan or a pot of soup.
- Pickle it. It turns naturally pink. See the recipe Quick Pickled Pink Baby Ginger.
- Make syrup and candied ginger in one pot. See the recipe Ginger Syrup and Candied Ginger.
A note on safety: Don’t store fresh ginger in oil at room temperature, because that can grow bacteria that cause botulism. Freezing, pickling in vinegar and cooking in syrup are all safe ways to keep it.
Quick ideas
- Grate it into stir-fries, dressings, soups and marinades.
- Slice it paper-thin and add it raw to salads. Baby ginger is mild enough.
- Add grated ginger to smoothies, oatmeal or roasted squash.
- Steep slices for tea. See the recipe Fresh Ginger Tea.