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Anyone use a meat grinder to grind vegetables?

Matanzima

Matanzima

Hi all

I'm looking for a better way to mince fresh ginger root. I currently use a food processor, but it takes forever in the volumes I need.

I thought of trying a meat grinder - but wonder how the grinder will handle fibrous vegetables like ginger root.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks much
 
The meat grinder should do the job of cutting your ginger up small, but the screw in the handle that feeds the stuff to be ground will crush it against the plate the cutting wheel rotates against and express the juice from the ginger before it cuts it. You'll have juice running down onto the floor if you clamp it to the edge of a table and don't take some sort of precaution to catch the juice first. how much ginger at a time do you need to have cut up? Do they make anything bigger than a food processor to do this sort of job?
 
stickman said:
The meat grinder should do the job of cutting your ginger up small, but the screw in the handle that feeds the stuff to be ground will crush it against the plate the cutting wheel rotates against and express the juice from the ginger before it cuts it. You'll have juice running down onto the floor if you clamp it to the edge of a table and don't take some sort of precaution to catch the juice first. how much ginger at a time do you need to have cut up? Do they make anything bigger than a food processor to do this sort of job?
Click to expand...

Right now I do it in a regular food processor - it works, just time consuming

For my current batch size I process about 6 pounds, but I'm looking to increase that
 
I think food processor is going to still be your best bet. As was mentioned, a meat grinder is going to squish it and you'll have ginger juice pouring out everywhere. You'll lose a lot of the essence that you'd probably rather keep.

Same with a juicer - you'll get a big cup of ginger juice and another bigger cup of fiber.

I think the food processor is the best option. You might want to look into getting one of the industrial sized ones - they're not cheap, but they make 'em up to 25 quarts:

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/equipment/food-processors/c5518.aspx

(25 quarts = $10K)
 
MnZ~ BlendTec blenders "will blend it". They runabout $400 for the full on commercial blender and $250 for the lesser "smoothie" blender.

Another option is The Ginger People. I think they are out of Cali. You will probably have to contact them directly, but I've purchased a 45# bucket of ground ginger with no additives. Pure Ground Ginger. It was shipped frozen, so I left it in the refer for a couple days until it got slushy, then I portioned it out into plastic tubs and put it back in the freezer. If you need 6# per batch, get some quart tubs from the local restaurant supply store and freeze them.

Fast and easy, it'll make your life happy when processing. :cool:


PS- this type of processing and freezing in portions also works for other items that are seasonal like chiles, fruits, etc.
 
salsalady said:
MnZ~ BlendTec blenders "will blend it". They runabout $400 for the full on commercial blender and $250 for the lesser "smoothie" blender.

Another option is The Ginger People. I think they are out of Cali. You will probably have to contact them directly, but I've purchased a 45# bucket of ground ginger with no additives. Pure Ground Ginger. It was shipped frozen, so I left it in the refer for a couple days until it got slushy, then I portioned it out into plastic tubs and put it back in the freezer. If you need 6# per batch, get some quart tubs from the local restaurant supply store and freeze them.

Fast and easy, it'll make your life happy when processing. :cool:


PS- this type of processing and freezing in portions also works for other items that are seasonal like chiles, fruits, etc.
Click to expand...

Hmm, thanks for the tip - that does sound interesting.

I've tried the "acidified" ginger and that didn't cut it

But unadulterated may work - I will give it a shot

Thanks!

Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
I think food processor is going to still be your best bet. As was mentioned, a meat grinder is going to squish it and you'll have ginger juice pouring out everywhere. You'll lose a lot of the essence that you'd probably rather keep.

Same with a juicer - you'll get a big cup of ginger juice and another bigger cup of fiber.

I think the food processor is the best option. You might want to look into getting one of the industrial sized ones - they're not cheap, but they make 'em up to 25 quarts:

http://www.foodservi...sors/c5518.aspx

(25 quarts = $10K)
Click to expand...

Yes, some nice equipment on there... *drool*
 
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