Dig around ginger hands to loosen roots

Cover Harvested Ginger to Reduce Sunscald and Field Heat

Green Rhizomes From Sun Exposure

Wash with bud scales to reduce damage to pretty pink scales

Trim roots and tops off with sharp knife

• The more you cut ginger the less time the ginger will hold in storage
• Cut pieces from hands when ready to take to market
• Green (solarized) rhizome is not pretty to look at, but it is still edible and usable
  (in commercial ginger trade these pieces are culls caused by not enough soil
  covering rhizomes)
• You can pull baby ginger out of the ground if the soil or media is loose and friable;
  otherwise, dig around the hands to loosen roots and then undermine with
  digging tool or pull from shoots
• In grow bags, tip bag and pull plants from bag (be careful if reusing bags)
• In the field, dig up plants, trim tops and roots off, haul to washing station
• Leave tops on through washing if selling with foliage; be careful about breaking the ginger off from foliage flopping around! Bunch foliage together to minimize breaking the hands
• Tops generally trimmed to about a 1/4-1/2" above rhizome
• Try not to break/cut hands apart until ready to take to market; then, cut ginger where it would naturally break, not in the middle of a fat piece of ginger
• Wash your ginger with a power wash nozzle on the hose end
• Do not wash against the pink bud scales; they might get knocked off
• To remove soil from between rhizomes, gently spread slightly apart while washing and most soil should come out
• If soil cannot be removed from between the hands, use a knife to gently push soil through slightly separated rhizomes
• Minimize field heat by covering harvested rhizomes with trimmed tops
• Did I mention not to make too many cuts on the ginger...!

  Trim tops or leave them on, depending upon your market

   

  
  
   

Post harvest before market (after washing):

Use open (breathable) harvest containers. Store in a cool (60-75F), dry place out

of direct sunlight (sunlight will cause rhizomes to turn green). Leave cut tops on 

open mesh harvest containers after washing if trucking them out of field or

transporting them to drying area. If packing for transport, be sure that the rhizomes

are dry before boxing. Ginger hands can be dried by laying hands out on a bench 

or rack... just be sure it is in full shade! Be gentle with the ginger. It does not have

the thick hide on it that mature ginger does and rough handling may break off the

pink bud scales or damage hands.

Be gingerly with your Baby Ginger crop!

Storage options for you and your customers:

Store ginger in refrigerator or at room temperature (60-72F).

It should last about two to three weeks at room temperature before it starts to 

get wrinkly. It can still be used after this point but will have less moisture. If stored

in the refrigerator, ginger will not hold for any length of time when brought back out

into room temperatures. So, once in the refrigerator, leave in the refrigerator! It will 

last about three weeks in the refrigerator. Your customers may see the pink bud 

scales turn to darker pink or purple when it is stored in the refrigerator. This is also okay. Ginger rhizomes can also be frozen, pickled or dried. If you have winter 

markets, you may want to freeze some of your crop to take to market over the 

winter months...

Pink bud scales turn purple in the refrigerator - still edible