8/16/2022 Microplane News
The Best Ginger Grater and All About Ginger
Ginger is a fantastic spice (not just a spice, girl!), widely used and prized for its diverse culinary application. Ginger is easy to find by its beige color and knobby, striated appearance. Though commonly referred to as a root, ginger is technically a rhizome or underground stem. It is a well-known and fundamental ingredient in many Asian cuisines. This spice has an assertive, warm flavor. Ginger is highly versatile, and ginger can be grated, sliced, chopped, dried, candied, or pickled for use in desserts, salads, stir-fries, marinades, beverages, and more. In the hot summer, ginger adds a refreshing kick to fancy cocktails, chilled drinks, cool desserts, and flavorful marinades.

The hard part about prepping ginger is that it can be stringy, causing the natural juices to separate from the fiber. Microplane designed a ginger grating surface from our Made in the USA blade material with a unique tooth setting. (You have to look real close to see!). The teeth have a different shape than our traditional cheese graters. This tooth makes all the difference. It shreds the ginger into a paste that contains both the fiber and the natural juices. It is a thing of beauty. More than one person on our staff prefers the ginger tool for grating or mincing garlic.

At shows and in customer comments, many people have asked us if they must peel ginger before mincing it. We asked the experts in our professional chef family and consulted google. It turns out that peeling ginger is a personal preference. The ginger peel adds a bit of a "hot" bite to the overall taste. If you like things a little more spicy, leave the peel. If you want just the ginger taste, you can peel the ginger. We added a little knob on the side of the tool that acts like the back of a spoon to peel ginger easily. Using the peeler is similar to whittling.

A slicer with a protective cover is on the bottom of the kitchen gadget. Use the slicer to slice ginger for pickling or candying. Our team has found the slicer is so handy that they use it to cut all sorts of small foods. Instead of pulling out the mandoline, or a knife, you can easily slice baby carrots, green onions, and other items over a salad as a garnish. The entire tool is only about 11" long and stores in a drawer or a kitchen caddy. Quite honestly, ours seldom makes it from the dish drainer to the drawer. It is dishwasher safe but is easy to clean by hand. Even easier if rinsed immediately after use.

Check out this online review of our Ginger Grater from Epicurious to see we aren't alone in our opinion.