With grocery bills continuing to climb, making the most of perishable items – particularly fresh produce – has never been more important. Fortunately, one culinary expert has stepped forward to share how we can begin by keeping the popular root vegetable, ginger, fresher for longer.
The Expert's Simple Storage Hack
Maria Keenan, a cookbook author who goes by Oxford Girl Cooks on social media, turned to TikTok to share her top recommendation. "If you're anything like me, you'll buy ginger and it'll go bad before you've had chance to use it," she began in a video. Hopefully those days will soon be over, however, as Maria explained her technique.
"Take a spoon and scrape off all the skin – this is the most effective way to do it in terms of the least amount of waste," she advised. Cautioning her audience to watch out for any juice that might spray into their eyes, she then cut the ginger into smaller chunks and transferred them into a zip lock bag. "There's no real secret to this," she continued. "Now you can pop it in the freezer and it will last for six months." Maria closed by enthusing: "You can now have nice fresh ginger whenever you want it." To keep track of its use-by date, she suggested writing the date of freezing on the bag to avoid any mishap.
Viewer Reactions and Tips
While numerous TikTok viewers applauded the technique, one individual questioned: "I have heard you shouldn't keep ginger in the fridge." This led Maria to explain: "I always do but it still dries up after a while and goes mouldy. So freezing is the best for longevity." A second person commented: "I never peel my ginger. There is lots of flavour in the skin too so i blend it all with the skin. Give it a try." Maria shared her own approach: "Blend? I just finely chop for cooking or take whole slice in hot water with lemon." While a third individual pointed out: "Problem is it [frozen ginger] will all stick together." to which Maria recommended: "You can give it a shake after 1-2 hours and it should separate. I spread it out in the bag to minimise sticking together. Each slice will be thawed by the time you've sliced it up."
Expert Opinion
Elsewhere, Abbie Leeson, owner of The Ginger People and Gin Gins, supports this method too, stating that freezing ginger is the optimal way to preserve the root without affecting its texture. The food specialist told Martha Stewart that freezing ginger is her preferred long-term storage solution – and it can remain fresh for six months using this technique. "The best way to do this it to cut it into coin size pieces and store it in a freezer bag," she concurred. Abbie also noted it's feasible to keep ginger at room temperature short-term, though this shouldn't extend beyond a week. "With time, it will start to lose its moisture and flavor, then shrivel," she explained. Ginger can remain usable for up to four weeks when refrigerated, though the texture may deteriorate, according to the specialist. "It can last three to four weeks, but it may get spongy in the refrigerator," she noted, confessing that this is her least preferred storage method for the root.
