Fresh Ginger
By Tom // Posted 23 October, 2010 in: Farmers Market, Food + Drink
Last week was the first time I’ve ever noticed fresh ginger at the farmers market, and, indeed the first I’d ever seen ginger so fresh as to still have stalks attached – who knew ginger had stalks? The scent of this ultra-fresh ginger is a joy to take in – grassier and spicier than the slightly desiccated supermarket variety. The delicate pink color at the transition from root (or rather, rhizome) to stem is striking.
This will likely make its way into some Korean food this week (to serve with homemade kim-chi that should be ready tomorrow) but I am also looking forward to simpler preparations: ginger tea (my favorite infusion) and perhaps even ginger ale, if I can find a vessel that can handle the pressure of fermentation.
3 comments | Fresh, Ginger, Midtown Farmers Market, Minnesota, Produce
This entry was posted by Tom on Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Farmers Market, Food + Drink. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.
Interesting. Any plans for the stems?
Always the conundrum when I get home from the farmers market – should I save these beet greens? These ginger stems? I used to give in to guilt and dutifully store everything in the crisper to spend the week rotting away, but have since learned to be more draconian with vegetable detritus. After smelling the stems and determining their aroma to be less pungent than the bulbs, I discarded them. But your comment has me second guessing myself!
Ahh, the good ole beet greens conundrum. I too have been in that situation many times. If the ginger stems didn’t have much aroma, you probably made the right decision. The only use I can think of for the stems would be for stock. You could put them in with other aromatics to give it a subtle Asian tone.