Dear Food Goddess:

‘I bought some fresh ginger. I used part of it and kept the rest of it stored in the vegetable drawer, but it turned soft and soggy. Is this normal, or did I wait too long to use it?’

KARIN E. WARD, Conyers

Unfortunately, Ms. Ward left out one very important piece of information when she wrote to the goddess for assistance —- how long she stored the ginger! As with any perishable, ginger does have a limited lifespan, but usually it’s several weeks.

To ensure the longest shelf life and guarantee freshness, it is important when buying this knobby rhizome (a fancy name for a horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground) that it feels firm and the skin is smooth.

In general, fresh ginger can be left at room temperature in a cool location for several days or wrapped in paper towels and refrigerated in an unsealed plastic bag for three to four weeks. According to “Melissa’s Great Book of Produce” (Wiley, $29.95), ginger also can be sliced and frozen in an airtight container for as long as three months.

Recipe swap

> Shannon Kelly of Roswell is looking for a chilled dessert recipe that was making the rounds in 1980 when she was a new bride at Fort Stewart. The ingredients included graham crackers, canned mandarin orange segments and Jell-O instant pistachio pudding mix.

> Melissa Lemaire of Fairburn is looking for a spaghetti sauce recipe that was on a matchbook cover back in the 1950s or 1960s! How nifty is that —- recipes on matchbooks!

> Stephen Hart of Jonesboro is looking for a grapefruit cream cake recipe that his mother used to make in the 1970s. It was a three-layer creation with a grapefruit curd filling and a seven-minute icing. Each component was made with fresh grapefruit juice and/or zest. While he was able to find other grapefruit cake recipes, they lacked the curd filling or had cream-cheese icing, “nothing like the recipe Mom used to make,” he says (pardon that cliche). He hopes to make it for his mother’s birthday this coming November.

The Food Goddess wishes to answer all your food questions and share your kitchen tips and recipe requests. Write to foodgoddess@ajc.com or to Food Goddess, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sixth Floor, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303.

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