1. Ginger is a large knobbly root and has a hot, spicy flavour most commonly used in Asian cooking. Look for ginger that is smooth and firm and avoid any that feels shrivelled or soft.
2. The most efficient way to remove the skin is using a teaspoon. Hold root with one hand on a chopping board and use edge of spoon to scrape away papery skin. The spoon makes it easier to work around all knobbly bits and removes just skin without wasting flesh.
3. The easiest way to cut ginger is to slice ginger lengthways into long flat pieces. Lay pieces flat on board on top of each other and slice lengthways again into long matchsticks. Pile pieces up and slice widthways across ginger into fine chunks.
4. For extra fine ginger, for use in marinades or pastes, grate it on a fine grater. Rub ginger on grater using a firm pressure. You might need to stop every now and then to scrape away fibres that build up and clog grater.
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Oak chopping board, Lakeland. Loft 24-piece dinner set, ProChef’s knife, Twin Pure Steel multi grater, Zwilling J.A. Henckels. Glass ramekin, chef's own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
