Ginger's brown outer peel looks tough, but it's not. It's so thin and light that you don't need a knife or vegetable peeler to peel it.
To start, break or cut off the the amount of ginger you need. Slice off any small protruding limbs to make the main piece easier to peel.
Hold the piece of ginger in one hand. With the tip of a spoon, scrape away the ginger's peel.
You'll be surprised by how little effort it takes to remove it. Because spoon tip is dull, it easily takes off the soft peel without wasting much of the aromatic flesh.
Once you've peeled the ginger, you're ready to prep it further.
Reference: How much is a thumb of ginger? (Cookthink)
Reference: How to mince ginger (Cookthink)
How to peel and seed a butternut squash
How to peel and seed a butternut squash
The bright orange flesh of a butternut squash is firm and the skin is tough and thick, like a hard plastic. We've had some success using a sturdy vegetable peeler, but if you have a sharp knife and a plan, butternut squash prep can be pretty easy.
To start, cut off and discard the stem end.
Cut the butternut squash in two at the intersection of the cylindrical neck and the round base.
Peel the skin from the neck: If the skin is too thick to peel with a vegetable peeler, try standing the neck on a flat end and slicing downward around the squash with a paring knife. (If the neck is really long, cut into two shorter pieces before doing this.)
Peel the round base in the same way.
When you've peeled the base, split it in half or into quarters lengthwise.
Using a spoon, scrape to remove the seeds and fibrous flesh.
Now you can cut the peeled and seeded squash into whatever size pieces you need.
Peeling eggs: do it underwater
Peeling eggs: do it underwater
It never occurred to me that I still had something left to learn about peeling boiled eggs.
However, the other day when I was running some oeufs mollets—boiled eggs with firm whites and gooey yolks—under cold water to make them tolerable to peel, I dropped one onto the bottom of the pan.
The shell splintered, so rather than taking it out of the water and rolling it around to break up and loosen the shell, I did it in the water. To my surprise, the fragile egg became much easier to peel. The water got under the shell and seemingly liberated it and the thin membrane underneath. After that I had an absolute orgy of egg boiling and peeling.
Reference: How to hard boil an egg (Cookthink)
Reference: What's the difference between white and brown eggs (Cookthink)
How to make country potato salad
How to make country potato salad
Summertime barbecues wouldn't be the same without potato salad. To learn how to make this version of an all-American favorite, watch Handmade TV's instructional video.
How to make quinoa tabouleh-stuffed peppers
How to make quinoa tabouleh-stuffed peppers
These quinoa tabouleh-stuffed peppers can be served as a main course for vegetarians, or as a lovely addition to non-vegetarian meals. After watching this video by Handmade TV, you'll be all set to make them on your own, from scratch.
Do I need to peel yellow squash?
Do I need to peel yellow squash?
Almost never. Like zucchini, a yellow squash is a summer squash that's picked while immature, and has a delicate, edible rind. Its thin skin and high water content allow it to cook up quickly, whether grilled, steamed, baked, sautéed or deep-fried.
Occasionally, you'll run across an especially bumby crookneck squash, which you might need to whittle down. Otherwise, you're all set.
Recipe: Grilled Shrimp And Squash Kebabs (Cookthink)
Recipe: Chicken In Parchment With Mushrooms, Red Onion And Squash (Cookthink)
Prepping pearl onions requires a bit of effort, but will make a difference in soups and stews or as a side dish when roasted, braised or glazed.
Start by bringing a saucepan of water to a boil (for blanching the onions). Next, prepare an ice bath -- just a large bowl with a quart of water and 1 cup of ice cubes -- that you will use to cool down the onions after blanching.
Cut off the root end of each pearl onion -- don't cut too much off, maybe 1/16 of an inch. Blanching will loosen the skins and they'll slip off easily.
Blanch the pearl onions by boiling them in water for 1 to 2 minutes until their skins look bubbly and translucent.
With a slotted spoon, remove them to the ice bath so that they stop cooking and become cool enough to peel.
Let them cool for 5 minutes in the ice bath, or until they're cool enough to handle.
Now just slip their skins off.
Since you've already removed the root, the skins will be loose and easy to peel off.
Fennel is a multi-faceted plant that brings a subtle anise flavor to the table in a number of ways.
Technically an herb, it also provides spice in the form of fennel seed. The pollen of fennel flowers is intense and sweet. The tasty bulb can be eaten raw or cooked. And the fronds make an aromatic garnish.
The same compound that flavors aniseed and star anise also flavors fennel, although not as strongly. The slight licorice flavor is frequently found as an ingredient in Italian sausages.
Elixirs and distillations of fennel have been used for centuries as nerve tonics and digestive aids. Its use as a component of gripe water has helped to ease the colic in babies as a homeopathic remedy.
what you should know
If it's ugly, the old produce adage goes, it must be good. Nothing proves this so convincingly as the subsoil family of dark taproots, homeliest among them the beet.
The beet may not be much to look at on the outside, but what really defines it is the sweetness of its flesh, which is usually a vibrant red, yellow or orange.
Its high sugar content and hardiness have made it a fiber-rich workhorse in northern climates such as the Ukraine, whose national dish is the beet-based soup called borscht. (The family of America's most famous beet farmer, Dwight Schrute, came from Germany.)
keep the beet Stay away from beets that are soft or that have wet or bruised spots. You want smooth, firm beets. In the refrigerator, they'll keep for a month or so. Before cooking, gently scrub the beets. To prevent them from "bleeding," wait until after you've cooked and let them cool a little before you peel them.
it's chard When you can, buy beets with the tops still attached. When you get them home, lop off all but a half inch or so of the greens and store them separately. Cook the greens just like you would chard, which is actually a beet that's been bred as a leaf vegetable.
what you need
Peeling with the OXO 7" Good Grips swivel peeler is like writing with your favorite pen. With its thick grip, you can get an easy peel that doesn't maul the beet. (It won't keep your hands from staining pink, though. If soap doesn't get it out, try lemon juice.)
In her book Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters lets beets and other roots shine with as little embellishment as possible. We endorse this.
For borscht, you've got to have a good loaf of locally made bread. Slice it, toast it and drizzle it with butter or oil. Or just tear a chunk off for sopping.
what you do
You can do no wrong by simply roasting beets. (Wrapping or covering them in foil makes them easier to peel). While they're still warm, peel and toss them with quality vinegar. Waters insists that the vinegar highlights the sweetness of the beets. We agree.
That sweetness is the perfect canvas for playing around with contrasting flavors. Grate raw beets and toss them in a salad with frisee, walnuts and creamy fresh goat cheese.
Depending on where you find yourself in the world, borscht (or barszcz or bartsch or bors) can range from a cold, light broth to a hot, meaty stew. Here's a delicious but simple vegetarian borscht.
One of the oldest fruits known to man, the pomegranate is the fruit of a small tree native to grasslands stretching from the Middle East all the way to the Himalayas and south to India. With a tough, red skin, the pomegranate is prized for its edible seeds, called arils, which have a sweet and sour taste.
The name pomegranate is derived from the Latin for apple "pomum" (apple) and "granatus" (seeded). Pomegranate recipes abound in the cuisines of many Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures. Whether stirred into sauces and chutneys, juiced and blended into drinks or baked and formed into sweets and desserts, pomegranates are one of the few bright and sweet fruits of winter.
Pomegranates are good sources of vitamin C and potassium. Recent studies have shown that pomegranates contain high levels of punicalagins, compounds that could act as antioxidants in the body.
Recipe: Pomegranate, Persimmon And Pecan Salad
Recipe: Sliced Oranges With Pomegranate Caramelized Walnuts
Place the pomegranate down on its stem end; the blossom end with have a small opening.
Cut firmly down along one of the 6 hexagonal ribs; hitting the rib cuts the flesh and not the seeds.
Hold the fruit down firmly and move your fingers away from the bottom; the juice is very dark red and stains almost everything.
Remove the split fruit to a bowl of water immediately to prevent staining of fingers and cutting boards.
Holding the cut side down over the bowl of water, tap it firmly with a spoon. The seeds will fall out and sink to the bottom; the inedible pith will float to the surface.
Alternatively, peel the skin off the fruit in the bowl of water. Either method works well to extract the sweet, juicy kernels.
A cardoon is a vegetable, also known as the artichoke thistle, that looks a bit like celery on a bad day and has a flavor reminiscent of artichoke hearts and salsify.
Popular in Italy, Spain and France, the cardoon is related to the Globe artichoke. An invasive, frost-sensitive plant that needs a lot of space, the cardoon grows as a weed in the Argentine pampas, California and Australia.
Cardoons can be baked, braised or boiled, and it's often a good idea to blanch them for up to 30 minutes before using them. (Beware of sneaky thistles that may be lurking on the outer stalks -- it's best to peel the outside a bit.)
High in sodium, cardoons are nevertheless recognized as a good source of potassium, calcium and iron. Artichoke oil, which is similar to sunflower or safflower oil, can be extracted from cardoon seeds. It is currently being studied and tested for its biofuel potential.
