[tanksagain]

Can fresh ginger be used in place of powdered ginger. I've left it too long and all the stores are out of ginger. Must be lots of people out there making gingerbread cookies. houses. men etc. So, would I chop some ginger-root up , dry it in the oven and grind it with the mortor and pestle? And how much should I use for substitution? Is there such a thing as a nutmegman?

 

[anneke]

A nutmegman??!? I'm lost...

I would do an experiment with fresh grated ginger on a small batch.

I can't stand the powdered stuff myself and I always use fresh grated (superfine) ginger in gingerbread. It tastes much fresher and doesn't have that stale soapiness of powdered stuff.

Add it gradually and taste your dough (cooked if you really want to be safe) as you go. Good luck!

 

[tanksagain]

Thanks for your response. So its okay, even preferable to use fresh, excellent.
Nutmegman= gingerbread man made with nutmeg of which I have many many jars. lol.

 

[mudbug]

tanksagain,

Yes, for the most part in everything from hot peppers to herbs, to rhizomes, it's always better to use fresh over dried. We all just grew up using dried (preserved) because fresh was not readily available).

If you can find a wasabi grater (which are becoming increasingly common (usually ceramic)) then I highly suggest using that. You'll end up with a fine extremely juicy pulp that you can use and will distribut evenly in your recipe. Otherwise, I recommend a microplane zester for an extremely fine grate.

You can keep ginger fresh by keeping it in a cool, dark place like a drawer or even in soil (it might sprout).

 

[chiffonade]

Short answer = no. You can't sub fresh ginger for ground ginger. As a matter of fact when I write a recipe containing ground ginger, I make a point to include "do not substitute fresh."

Usually as a rule, fresh is better. However, ginger is one of the rare cases where the fresh product cannot be subbed for the dry.

Perhaps a "nutmegman" is a name someone gave to a nutmeg grating gizmo??

 

[anneke]

Why not? Too much moisture?

It always worked for me.

 

[mudbug]

? Me too...

 

[kylew]

I'm not sure why the swap wouldn't work. I just can't imagine how much fres you would need to dry down to the dried amount!

 

[mudbug]

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