Gifts for Cooks — Ginger Grater

If the kitchen were on fire, which isn’t that far fetched an idea given our history, this is one of the items I’d grab.

My mom gave me this navy blue ceramic ginger grater for Christmas a couple of years ago and I’ve used it at least once a week ever since. I love it so much that when a recipe calls for minced ginger, I now usually grate it. I put it to the test with my Mulligatawny Soup, various curries and even my Chocolate Ginger Cheesecake.

Mom has metal version, my sister has a Japanese style with the grater embedded in the bottomed of a flat bowl and mine is pottery. All work equally well and clean easily. At less than $20, it’s efficiency on a budget. Yes, it’s a one-note wonder, but it’s small and nothing can replace it.

Why don’t I just use my microplane? Ginger root is too woody. It needs something with teeth to draw out the fiber and mash the pulp. The microplane acted more like a juicer and took a long time to work through the tough strands.

But this?

It took all of ten seconds.

A firm pastry brush extracts the pulp and it’s clean in no time. If you have a particularly lumpy piece of ginger it can take longer to peel than grate and clean.

You should be able to find a ginger grater in specialty cookware shops and, if you’re lucky, in Asian grocery stores.

This is the perfect, affordable, space-friendly gift for ginger geeks. If you got one, what ginger-laced recipe would you make first?