What are your feelings on jarred chopped ginger or garlic? There are certainly benefits in the time saved, but I’ve never used them because I was concerned the flavor would suffer.
But now I’m thinking about some Ethiopian recipes, which use really generous amounts of both, and all that peeling/grating… And frankly, I often skimp on the full amount of either in Asian cuisine recipes. I don’t want the labor to prevent me from making the dishes I otherwise want to make or make as intended…
I’ve never bought either, but I don’t use a huge amount, so it’s no big deal for me to grate it myself.
I don’t use a huge amount either. I’ve only ever bought the Dorot frozen ginger once as a timesaver. But I would use more if it was easier. And there are recipes that I avoid altogether when the labor involved in things like this prep are too high. And I’m trying to avoid avoiding those 
I use a lot of garlic and find the jarred product to be very good. I still use the fresh for small quantities.
I don’t use nearly as much ginger in my cooking, so I always keep some fresh in the freezer.
Many of the key chemicals in garlic and ginger which give the depth of flavor are quite volatile and so you will lose all of that by buy pre-chopped stuff. You save time but lose a lot of flavor in your final dish
What brand do you like for the garlic?
That’s why I’ve stayed away, but also, it’s been speculation on my part, because I haven’t worked with those products and so all I have is my preconceived notion. Have you used either and found them to be disappointing compared to fresh?
I keep a small piece of whole ginger in the freezer as @gaffk does. I chop off a chunk as I need it.
Jarred or prechopped garlic doesn’t agree with me, yikes. I can eat as much fresh garlic as I like though. So garlic cloves or (in season) scapes it is.
I have a couple recipes I’ve been looking at - they each ask for a tbsp of grated ginger and garlic. That is what prompted this question. If I were to make 3 of them, to some extent resembling a meal out with these multiple dishes, it would take me 30 minutes just for this part of the prep.
I have no problem with jarred chopped garlic or ginger paste (I buy the latter at the Indian grocery store). They taste fine, and we use enough of both that they don’t lose flavor before we get to the end of the jar.
Can you share brands you like? Unless the store jars its own…
I use Spice World jarred garlic. I make the same recipes I made with fresh garlic before “discovering” the efficiency of the jarred variety and have not discerned any difference in the finished product. Like @travelmad478 I use the jars (they’re relatively small) before any flavor loss occurs.
I haven’t used them - to be honest it is so obvious that cutting up garlic or ginger will lead to loss of volatile parts and in addition of oxidation of other chemicals that there is no way around that your quality will suffer
I suppose I am less of a purist than you. My ginger sits in the fridge for a month sometimes before I use it, and I’m not persuaded when I microplane it at that point, the quality will be any better than a jar.
The ginger will dry out gradually in the fridge if you don’t use it sooner (than within a few short weeks). I suggest keep it in the freezer and grate straight from frozen. Don’t forget to wash it well before freezing.
If you want to reap the benefits of garlic you need to eat it raw. Mince it and let sit for about 10 minutes. That’s the recommended amount of time.
These are the 2 ingredients I always have on hand as I use them a lot. When I get a good deal on ginger, and besides eating it, I also like to boil a big pot for drinking.
Peeling garlic is no chore for me. Takes almost no time to crush 4 fat cloves every day. Garlic (and chillies) make many things taste good so I don’t mind the “hassle”.
Understood. Saving time is key. 
Plenty of people must be able to use jarred garlic without tummy trouble. Alas, I am not one of them.
I didn’t realize you could grate frozen ginger. I assume you peel it before freezing then?
Tbh, if I were to use a shortcut, it would be for the ginger, which I use less often and seems to take more time to prep than garlic. Although my garlic cloves are often quite small and while they are a cinch to peel, it takes a lot of them to microplane the right amount, and often the nubs, which can be as big as 1/6of a small clove, just get popped into the recipe as they are.
Just use a standard garlic press. Press the cloves with skin and all. The skin will stay in the press. Take it out using a knife or something small like a coffee/tea spoon. Something that can lift the skin out of the press easily.
Yes, do peel your ginger before freezing if you want. I scrub it with a mesh pad to thoroughly remove dirt. Freezing ginger, just like other vegs, retains their freshness.
I haven’t used a garlic press in a decade, since I discovered the microplane. They were such a pain to clean afterwards. But for little cloves, you may be right. If we kept ours…
Have you ever used the tip of a spoon to peel ginger, whether frozen or not? I have been doing that since reading a tip on a blog somewhere and the spoon technique works well enough for me.
