The benefits of ginger
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What ginger does
What this vegetable does
It can be looked to for caring for the throat and gut while helping the appetite.
How to eat it
Grated ginger added to a miso soup or a broth is an easy way to warm the body.
A yakuzen note
Ginger is said to warm the body and ease trouble brought on by cold
This vegetable, driedDried ginger →
Ginger is a pungent root, warm in nature, held to warm the body and help how the gut works. Its appeal is a fresh aroma and a sharp heat, and it suits daily care when you do not want to chill the body, or when you want warm food in the cold season. Grated as a garnish, shredded into stir-fries and simmered fish, pickled in sweet vinegar or in shogayaki, it works across Japanese, Western and Chinese cooking: the ingredient that takes the lead on aroma.
TOC
When ginger is in season, the kinds, and how to choose
If you want to bring in what ginger does, deliciously, knowing the season, the kinds and how to choose makes it easier to use. Its appeal is a fresh aroma and a sharp heat, and it is the ginger-family root that garnishes and flavouring cannot do without.
New ginger in early summer, old ginger all year
Ginger is a ginger-family plant whose underground rhizome is eaten, with Kochi and Kumamoto the main producing areas. Tender new ginger is in the shops from early summer into summer, roughly June to August, while old ginger, stored and matured after harvest, is available all year. New ginger is gently hot and juicy; old ginger is deeper in heat and aroma. It is used as the fine supporting player that lifts a dish, as a garnish and to take the smell out of simmered fish. That the taste and the aroma come out differently raw and cooked is part of what makes ginger interesting.
New ginger, old ginger and leaf ginger
Ginger can be chosen by time of harvest and by part.
| kinds | What stands out |
|---|---|
| New ginger | In season in early summer. Tender and gently hot. For sweet vinegar pickles (gari) |
| Old ginger | Stored, available all year. Deep in heat and aroma. For garnishes and grating |
| Leaf ginger | Young ginger with the leaves on. Juicy, eaten raw with miso |
For garnishes, grating and flavouring a stew, old ginger, deep in heat and aroma, suits. For sweet vinegar pickles and a clean taste, tender new ginger is easy to use. Leaf ginger, or Yanaka ginger, is juicy, and bitten raw with miso it gives a taste that belongs to early summer. Hajikami, or ya-shoga, is served as colour alongside grilled fish. Choosing by dish is what brings out what ginger has.
How to choose it and how to use it
When choosing good ginger, these points make it easier to tell.
- Old ginger: taut, glossy skin and plump
- A juicy cut surface, neither shrivelled nor dried
- New ginger: white with faintly coloured tips, and juicy
Most of the aroma sits near the skin, so peeling thinly, or washing it well and using it unpeeled, keeps the aroma. To bring the aroma out, grate it; to enjoy the texture, shred or chop it. Grated, the heat and aroma come forward; cooked, it grows rounder. For simmered fish and meat dishes, add slices or shreds to take out the smell and give aroma. Used raw as a garnish, grating it just before use brings the aroma out most. New ginger has thin skin and can be used unpeeled.
How to use ginger
Ginger works widely, from garnishes to main dishes to drinks, drawing on its fresh aroma and sharp heat. Here are the standard ways.
As a garnish, in shogayaki and in simmered dishes
What brings out the most in ginger is using it as a garnish. Grated alongside cold tofu, somen or soba, its fresh aroma lifts the dish. Shogayaki, pork cooked in a ginger sauce, is a standard that has you reaching for rice. Shredded or grated into simmered fish, nikujaga or braised pork, it takes the smell away and tightens the taste. It is also essential for flavouring thickened sauces and stir-fries. New ginger pickled in sweet vinegar, as gari, makes a clean-tasting palate-cleanser alongside sushi and fried food.
In ginger tea and ginger syrup
As a drink too, ginger's fresh aroma and heat are a pleasure. Grated ginger with hot water poured over, sweetened with honey or unrefined brown sugar, is exactly right when you want to warm up in the cold season. Ginger syrup, simmered with sugar and water, tops up with soda for ginger ale or goes into black tea for ginger tea: it works widely. Grated into tea or used in baking, the aroma comes through. Slices simmered in sugar and dried as ginger candy, or made into tsukudani, keep and become a standing side.
How to keep ginger
Ginger is vulnerable to drying and to cold, so wrap old ginger in damp kitchen paper, put it in a plastic bag and keep it somewhere not too cold, or in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. Standing it in a container of water and changing the water now and then is another method. New ginger spoils easily, so use it soon. When you have a lot, grate it or cut it into shreds or slices and freeze it in portions, ready to go straight into garnishes and cooking. Pickled in sweet vinegar, made into tsukudani or turned into ginger syrup, it can be enjoyed for longer.
Alongside this, it is worth knowing about The benefits of leek and an aromatic vegetable likewise held to warm the body, The benefits of shiso as a guide when building a table for the cold season.
Ginger, usable all year, is an ingredient whose fresh aroma and sharp heat you can enjoy as a garnish, in shogayaki, in simmered dishes, in ginger tea and as ginger syrup. Sweet-pickled new ginger, old ginger for garnishes, leaf ginger eaten raw: using each for the dish at hand brings out what it has. When you do not want to chill the body, or for daily care in the cold season, bring ginger to your table.
