Young ginger has a milder taste, a bit of pink at the tips, and don’t even need peeling because the skin is so tender.
The following authorities plump for Green Ginger to mean fresh ginger:
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- Jill Norman. The Complete Book of Spices. 1990.
- John Ayto. A Gourmet’s Guide: Food & Drink from A to Z. 1994
- Alan Davidson. Penguin Companion to Food. 2002.
The following authorities plump for Green Ginger to mean fresh young ginger:
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- M. Grieve. A Modern Herbal. 1931
- Lori Alden. The Cook’s Thesaurus. 2004.
A few additional sources equate green ginger with “spring ginger”, which puts it in the young camp.
However, the confusion as to whether it means fresh or fresh and young is all a bit academic in the West. The ginger roots that reach Western supermarkets tend to be mature ones. So all you can really do is read “Green Ginger” as being “mature fresh ginger”, that will need peeling.
In any event, Green Ginger has always certainly meant some form of fresh ginger, as opposed to candied, ground, pickled, preserved, etc.