Hearkening back to a recent post on Indian Cuisine Cooking Websites, I thought I'd pass on a couple of tips on how I store fresh ginger and curry leaves to maintain their freshness.
Ginger
To select fresh ginger, I buy the roots that have the thinnest skin, a uniform light color, and when breaking a piece, there are not a lot of fibers and it has a nice light yellow-white color flesh. To store it for long periods of time while maintaining its freshness, I clean the ginger of any dirt, especially in the crevices, then simply put in a ziplock freezer bag and freeze. Whenever I want to use some, I take out a piece, grate some or chop some off and put the remaining back in the bag. It works great for me.
Curry Leaves
Depending on where you live, curry leaves can be hard to come by. I happen to live near many Indian grocery stores, but I still don't use many of them at one time. To store for later use, take the fresh leaves off the branches, lay them out on a plate, or tray - anything that will fit in your refrigerator, and refrigerate them for anywhere from 7-14 days or until dried. Then just place them in a jar plastic container and put them in your pantry to use when needed. I suppose you could dry them like you would many herbs, by hanging them, but I find this method easier and it really retains the color and freshness of the leaves.