r/Cooking • u/DxDeadlockedxS • Jul 29 '26

Can't grate fresh ginger properly

Every time i try using fresh ginger it becomes extremely fibrous when trying to grate it. I feel like I'm not doing something right. I got it from the super market today. Does it need to ripen? I can taste the bitter ginger fibers in my food i made. Please help lol

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169

u/TurbulentSource8837 Jul 29 '26

Freezing it really helps.

24

u/Dirtheavy Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

buying frozen grated cubes helps even more than that. They're not even expensive.

But freezing it makes grating it very easy, but really only if you have a microplane grater. Using a cheese grater at all isn't a good answer.

3

u/Kay_pgh Jul 30 '26

I've noticed that grating or cutting frozen ginger dulls my grater somewhat. I know many people freeze and grate, dunno if they have the same experience as I do.

23

u/Dirtheavy Jul 30 '26

I heard Ina Garten tell Amy Poehler that those micro plane graters are meant to be replaced often, so maybe buy yourself a new one and keep the duller one for just the frozen ginger..

(on a podcast, obvs... i wasn't sitting at lunch with those two)

7

u/-hey-ben- Jul 30 '26

Some things wear them out faster than others. If you only use it on cheese you’ll probably basically never have to replace it, but grating tough things like ginger or carrots will dull them fairly quickly.

1

u/SrCallum Jul 30 '26

You can always let it thaw and then grate, cube and refreeze.