The reason that roasted garlic tastes so much milder than raw garlic is that it contains a sulfur compound called allicin, which roasting breaks down. Allicin is primarily what gives garlic its pungency. Technically, raw garlic mostly contains a compound called allin, which reacts with the allinase enzyme to produce the allicin, and this reaction is greatly accelerated when garlic is "distressed", i.e. crushed or cut.
Ginger contains no allicin, so you're certainly not going to get an identical reaction. What ginger does contain are two types of oil called gingerols and shogaols, which are primarily what gives ginger its pungency. Cooking converts these into another compound called zingerone, which is far less pungent (it's described as "spicy-sweet"). It's actually slightly more complicated; the gingerols also convert into shogaols through cooking, and the shogaols are actually more pungent (160,000 SHU vs. 60,000), but on the whole, the ginger does become milder.
It will not become perfectly sweet as garlic does, just less pungent and more aromatic. In fact, cooked (roasted) ginger tastes much like dried ginger; many of the same reactions happen during drying as during cooking.
So yes, you can try roasting ginger if you want it to be milder, but don't expect to be able to eat the whole root by itself if you don't already love the taste of ginger. It doesn't do exactly the same thing that garlic does, it's just a little similar.
It's hard to find good references online, although you can find a lot of this in McGee. For more information you can try:
Here is how you can find out further if your ginger has gone bad in the fridge:
- extra moist
- skin will peel off easily when touched and texture is slimy
- obvious blackish, dark yellowish skin
- aroma is no longer the fresh one, but rather a ginger aroma covered by a sharp unpleasant earthy smell/mixed smell. You can notice it's going/gone bad.
You may cut it in half and check the inside still. If it looks fresh and smells fresh, then hard-peeling of the skin up to 2-3 mm can still leave you with good piece of ginger. But in order to store this now, you have to slice it, dry and put a zip lock. It can last for about a week.
Ginger is a root and there are ways you can store it without even freezing. I have had the luxury to dig a ginger root when needed. However for the recent years we had been storing it either outside, in an indoor soil basket or in the fridge. All are proven methods that many are successfully using. Otherwise I wouldn't want to blabber...
Keep unpeeled ginger root in an outside rack, e.g. an onion rack, or in a dry place that has proper ventilation. You will see it sprouts and/or dries a bit, but it can last with flesh inside up to a month. You can cut the portion you need and keep it back in this place. This way it doesn't get moist or turn into the texture that you encounter usually by storing in the fridge.
Make sure the root is not damaged by slugs. Get some soil/sand into a bucket, and bury it in it like how you can store winter veggies.
Store it in the fridge by wrapping it with a paper towel or a piece of paper or of thin cloth. Extra moisture will be absorbed by the wrapping.
Best Answer
Ginger is a root. Ginger root is ginger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger
"Ginger or ginger root is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice."
If you write ginger too many times it doesn't look like a word anymore.