Adding ground or chopped ginger to a dish lifts both its flavour and its aroma, but peeling ginger while preparing a meal is a fiddly job. Because of its uneven, knobbly shape, a knife or peeler often takes a good piece of the ginger away with the skin. A few simple tricks can make the job easier and reduce waste.

The easiest way to peel ginger may be an ordinary steel spoon. Hold the ginger firmly in one hand and rub it with the edge of the spoon, pressing lightly. The thin skin comes off while the flesh underneath stays largely intact. A spoon works particularly well in the small grooves and bends of the root, and wastes far less ginger than a knife.

A large, crooked piece of ginger is hard to peel in one go. Break it into small pieces along the joints, and each piece can then be cleaned easily with a spoon. Another advantage is that you peel only as much as the dish needs; the rest can be stored with its skin on.

To peel a lot of ginger quickly, a vegetable peeler can be used, but it must be sharp. Run it lightly without pressing hard on the ginger. Used carelessly, a peeler can take off some of the flesh, so for small quantities a spoon is more convenient.

Ginger does not have to be peeled for every recipe. For tea, marinades or grating, it can be used with the skin on after a thorough wash. It is important to wash it well first so that no soil or dust remains.

These methods cut out unnecessary peeling and stop ginger going to waste. Using these small tricks in the kitchen saves time and leaves more ginger to cook with.

The story drew on Serious Eats and NDTV Food.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.