Instead of opinions, I’m going to give you food information. Here’s some things to know about aromatics.

Fresh turmeric will destroy your kitchen by staining things yellow, but if you freeze it you can grate it from frozen directly into dishes and it is much easier to manage.

Similarly, hot peppers can be frozen whole and minced from frozen to minimize the spread of spicy juice across your hands. Work quickly, once it thaws it will start burning Scrape out the seeds and white inner flesh to reduce the heat.

The best way to process ginger is grating it in a box grater. You don’t even have to peel it, most of the skin will come off on the outside of the grater and what remains is small enough to be inconsequential in most applications.

Lemongrass is delicious but processing it is bullshit. Unless you have a spice grinder, go ahead and grate it. Just chop an inch off the root end, remove the outermost layer and grate from the root end until it becomes too frayed to manage, about 2 inches in.

Kaffir lime leaves can be bought fresh on the cheap in Asian markets and frozen whole. It’s easier to tear the stem out from the leaves when still frozen, rather than cutting them with a knife. Once the stems are out you can chiffonade those babies in a hot second.

Alliums are widely used enough in my kitchen that it often makes most sense to chop them in a food processor, transfer to an airtight jar, and just scoop out the amount you want to use as needed. Alternately, pre-chopped fresh alliums from the market are an excellent shortcut.

Don’t bother trying to peel the skins off of stubborn onions. Just tear off the whole first layer of the onion or shallot and toss it in a freezer bag for future veggie stock. It’s not worth the frustration to fiddle with!

Shelf-stable jars of minced ginger and garlic don’t taste the same as fresh or refrigerated stuff. Make your own or buy it from the fridge section of the market.

Using at least two different kinds of alliums in your recipe is almost always better than using just one. If your recipe is lacking oomph and you wish you had added more garlic earlier, chives or green onion can help give you the flavour you want without needing to be cooked.

Save all your allium scraps in a freezer bag. You’d be surprised how quickly they build up to just enough to make a good soup stock. I also save scraps from less starchy root veg, celery and cruciferous veg the same way. You can make your stock directly from frozen!

Anyway, that’s all for now
I hope you enjoyed my little tips.