How To Grate Ginger Without A Dedicated Tool

Fresh ginger is an essential ingredient in many soups, baked goods, and a plethora of Asian-inspired dishes. Yet some folks avoid using it in their recipes because they don't know how to grate ginger without using specific tools. A rasp-grater — often called a Microplane because that name is actually connected to a well-known brand – will make quick work of the root vegetable. However, not all folks have one of these niche gadgets on hand. A more common instrument — a box grater — makes shredding cheese easy, but trying to shave ginger with it can get messy. Even if you use a little cooking spray to make grating it easier, the fibrous ginger clogs up the holes, and you end up with a fair amount of it going down the garbage disposal when you clean it.

If you find yourself in need of fresh ginger for a recipe and don't have a Microplane, a simple fork can get you what you need. Once the root is peeled, place a fork on your cutting surface with the prongs facing upward. This will act as your ersatz Microplane. Keep the fork from sliding around with a spare hand as you carefully glide the veg over the tines, tearing the ginger as you go. It will take more work than using other dedicated utensils, but it will get the job done more efficiently than attempting to shred it with a knife.

While you can use a fork to shred ginger if necessary, it isn't exactly ideal. It will take considerably longer than using a Microplane or box grater, and you may have to go back over your bounty of shredded ginger with a knife if you need it minced. However, it is still faster than going at the veg with a knife in the first place.

Before you can grasp how to grate ginger with a fork, the vegetable needs its skin removed. Peeling it is another task most don't relish because it can be difficult to get around the bits protruding all over the root. Typically, a go-to gadget for this chore is a vegetable peeler — which can double as a butter spreader – but you can stick with tabletop utensils and use a spoon instead. 

Rubbing the spoon against the skin with some force will remove it from the meat of the veg, and the tip of the utensil can be utilized to dig around the problematic knots. Although a fork works for shredding ginger despite better instruments being available, using a spoon to peel it functions almost as well as a vegetable peeler because it allows you to get around the knots with ease.