I visit a big farmers market every second Sunday. This area of South East Queensland is ginger growing territory (I grew a meagre crop myself last year but with farm stuff available for around 4 GBP a kilo for fresh pink moist ginger why would you bother ;D)
So far I have been whizzing up Garlic Ginger Paste to Levitesh's recipe with water and oil, and to make it worthwhile to drag out the blender, I end up with about half a litre which I store in a takeaway container in the fridge. However as it's a fresh product - as opposed to the commercial jars that have stabilisers etc - it goes a bit sour and manky after a few weeks.
I'm wondering if it can be frozen without ill effect? I've got a kilo of ginger at the moment and a heap of purple garlic but before re inventing the wheel I was wondering if anyone else does this.
I freeze mine in ice cube trays and haven't noticed any difference in taste compared with using fresh.
Chris
Yes, no problem. Use an ice cube tray to give you some perfect 1 heaped teaspoon measures of G&G paste ready to go.
HI BB
Yes it freezes and keeps well.
I don't make fresh G&G, to see how long it lasts in the fridge,
but if I did, It would be as I normally do, 50/50 G&G, Salt, Vegetable Oil and NO WATER.
Water is where the bacteria can grow, (Science bit) plus the Salt is a natural preservative.
Never known this to go off
I buy fresh G&G on a regular basis, but i also buy TAJ brand, frozen Garlic, Ginger
and Minced Green Chillis. I use these 3G's in most of my curries.
These little frozen blocks are a 100% natural and so cheap and handy.
a true No brainer, so freeze away. ;)
cheers Chewy
we mix big quantities here 10 kilos of ginger 10 kilos of garlic blended with a little boiling water, oil and a pinch of salt - we found that this combination stops it from turning a greeny colour - it stay a yellow white.
Yes it freezes very well - when you defrost it there may be a little more water/juice but hey chuck it in the pan at the same time - stops it all from burning.
best, Rich
I store fresh chopped garlic in just enough oil to cover, in a small glass jar in the fridge.
Ginger/garlic paste could be stored the same way, since you'll probably saute it anyway, as a base for your masala dishes.
It will be a great time saver if you prepare enough to last you about a week at a time.
Freezing is not a suitable alternative.
Our local Indian Grocers stock ginger/garlic pst in plastic tins for a small amount of money which prevents me from further trying to freeze garlc/ginger pst. i've tried freezing in the past and the end product is nothing close to fresh. Don't freeze your garlic/ginger...plan for when you will use it and buy/make accordingly. Freezing it kills some of the "essence" you are trying to achieve.