Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale), along with garlic, is one of the mainstays of Parsi cooking. It’s used in its fresh form, the rhizome, in any number of dishes, mostly savory. Dried, it’s part of vasanu, a Parsi wintertime mixture of seeds, dried fruits, and spices, eaten to fortify mind and body, almost like the Italian panforte. There was a time when fresh ginger was difficult to find. Now we can be happy that fresh ginger is a supermarket item. Whether to peel ginger is up to you. Sometimes the skin is so thin that it can be easily scraped off.