Hattie’s Garden has begun the fall harvest of fresh young ginger this week.

This ginger is not anything like the tough, gnarled-rooted kind you may be used to getting at the supermarket. Fresh young ginger is juicy and plump, with pink at its tips from where green stems shoot forth.

It’s mild and tender enough to eat raw and, of course, very good for you! With an almost translucent skin that is so thin it doesn’t need peeling, you can practically rub it off. Just wash it and trim the cut surfaces.

Fresh young ginger is highly perishable, emerging about six months after planting, instead of the year needed for the more fibrous and fiery kind. Nevertheless, if you store your young ginger properly, it will last well for at least a couple of weeks. Place in a plastic bag, seal and store in your crisper. Make sure the ginger is dry.

For winter storage, the whole root freezes well. Simply, clean well, dry and place in a freezer bag. Then you can grate a bit whenever needed throughout the winter. It should keep until the next fresh ginger becomes available in a years time.

We will be digging the ginger for the remainder of September, so you still have a couple weeks to get ginger for immediate use and for keeping over the winter.

What’s Available This Week

The following will be available on Thursday and Friday at Hattie’s Garden from 2 to 5, and the HLFM on Saturday from 8 to 12, located on the grounds of the George H.P. Smith Park at the corner of Dupont and Johnson Avenues.

• Fresh Young Ginger — We will have plenty of ginger on Thursday and Friday at the Garden from 2 to 5, and a limited amount at the market Saturday for first come, first serve customers.
• Radishes — We’re harvesting a new planting of red radishes.
• Young Lettuce Mix — Triple-washed and bagged.
• Hakurei Turnips — Sweet, crunchy, and great raw in a salad, yet versatile enough to be added to soups and stir-fry.
• Specialty Cut Flowers — Choose a freshly prepared beautiful bouquet which will include this week several lisianthus stems, along with zinnias, celosia, and cosmos. Or have a custom bouquet made on the spot. Each bouquet comes with flower food, and is guaranteed to last at least a week.

Yours in the Garden & at the Market,