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I bought ginger at the grocery store last week and kept it, unpeeled, in the fridge. Today I sliced it open and there is a ring of a blueish colour, instead of the yellow I was expecting. The ginger still smells like I'd expect (I haven't tried tasting it).

Would this be safe for use (I was planning on putting some in a salad dressing), or should I toss it?

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4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Having just returned from Hawaii, I actually have a possible answer for you. There is a type of ginger that you can get there (though it's not all that common, far as I could tell) that's called blue ginger. It's just like regular ginger, only it has the blue layer inside as you describe. There was a guy selling it at a roadside fruit stand when we were there.

It should be absolutely safe to use.

edit: I found a link to somebody talking about it. Hawaiian Blue Ginger

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Not only that, but blue ginger is often sold as regular ginger in supermarkets. It's not Hawaiian in origin, though, it's called galangal and its origins (and prevalence) are Asian. – Aaronut♦ Dec 12 '10 at 1:14
3  
It's my understanding that galangal is pretty distinct, flavor-wise, from true ginger. The lady at our Thai market was pretty adamant about the difference, but didn't have any galangal so I can't say what the actual difference is. The blue ginger I smelled in Hawaii was indistinguishable from regular ginger. – bikeboy389 Dec 12 '10 at 16:38
hawaiianorganicginger.com/brother-bubba-baba.html shows a variety of ginger, decidedly not galangal from the looks of the skin, which has a blue ring. – JasonTrue Oct 2 '12 at 3:01
up vote 2 down vote

same thing happened to me. I returned from the store with fresh ginger, only to find that when I cut it open it was more blue than yellow. I checked around and found this reference: http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodstorage/a/gingerstorage.htm Read far enough down and it says that its another variety of ginger. hope this helps.

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up vote 1 down vote

I've never heard of that being a problem. I don't know about the cause, though. Is it more blue or more green? If the root was exposed to light at some point I suppose it might have gotten some chlorophyl development.

McGee has written about acids changing the color of garlic. Maybe there's something similar going on?

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up vote 0 down vote

Ginger didn't used to be blue/green on the inside. It's not from going bad. I've had plenty of experience with ginger going bad. It never turns green/blue inside. Now all the ginger I get from the store is that color. The color reminds me of the color of various copper compounds, and I'm worried that it's a new systemic insecticide or something.

The only blue ginger I've ever heard of is not actually ginger. It is in the Commelinaceae family, not the Zingiberaceae (ginger) family. The blue refers to the flowers: http://wildlifeofhawaii.com/flowers/467/dichorisandra-thyrsiflora-blue-ginger/

I grow Alpinia galanga, or Thai ginger, and it is not blue inside either. It smells and tastes different from regular ginger. I still want to know why the ones the stores are now selling are green inside.

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