Ginger and the health benefits

[Indian Globetrotter]

Ginger: People have tapped in to ginger for over 5000 years for medicinal reasons..surely that is some testament to this tuber's abilities. Personally, I am a huge fan of ginger and the fact that it has so many health benefits associated with it is a bonus. Once you have used this, you'll find ways to throw it into everything..Don't wimp out and go for fresh ginger..afterall if you are seeking a wholesome remedy the let it be wholesome..my suggestions for how to use it: soups, curries, stirfry, teas, salads..what's your take on this..indianglobetrotter.blogspot.com

[jarona]

I'm a ginger freak. I have a steady supply of fresh ginger on hand. Every night, I grate some ginger and place it in a mug. I boil water and pour the boiled water over the grated ginger and steep it--just like tea. I take a cinnamin stick and put it in the mug--a little fake suger and I'm a happy camper. I also have on hand at all times, candied ginger. It is the greatest snack and chopped and added to cream cheese frosting, makes the perfect topper for cake!

[AdamD]

I too make my own ginger "tea" with lemon juice, water and honey.
Great stuff.

[veenaprasad]

HAven't made ginger tea with cinnamon stick but it sounds great. Will have to try it! And yes I LOVE candied ginger too.

[veenaprasad]

I love ginger tea for headaches and hangovers :-) It's a great anti-inflammatory.

[Val]

Love ginger tea..especially if I feel a cold coming on...clears my sinuses beautifully. Also love fresh ginger in salad dressing with miso. When I worked at a health food store in 2000, one of the managers would bring us all a cup of Traditional Medicinal Ginger tea at 4:00p.m.--it was very lovely; she was from Barbados.

[ipsedixit]

Ginger is great.

I buy young ginger and eat it straight.

[ospreycove]

Culinary Ginger is easy to grow, too easy it will "take off" when unrestricted. Just buy a few fingers at the supermarket, plant it it starts slowly then explodes. I harvest it about 1 year after planting in S. Fl . talk about too much of a good thing!!!! In colder areas it should do o.k. indoors in the winter season.

[Pata_Negra]

lol omg i thought i was the only who ate it straight! once in China (Xiamen to be precise) i got a few knobs of some young ginger still red dirt covered. peeled and took a bite and my head exploded! it's like eating a scotch bonnet pepper like a fruit, which i actually did once. or like you get shot in the head, your head explodes, brains scattered everywhere but you're still conscious. never again come across such amazing ginger since.

[ipsedixit]

Try growing your own. You'll never go back to the store bought kind.

[Chemicalkinetics]

All I know is that I dislike ginger when I was young, but I like it ok now.

My favorest use of ginger is really cutting it into thin strips and put them into congee. It is an irreplaceable ingredient in this case.

The other very important use (though I rarely make) is: Sugar ginger soup -- mostly a home remedy for cold and flu.

[ipsedixit]

Or ginger and honey for a sore throat and stuffy nostrls.

[Chemicalkinetics]

I use sugar because I cannot afford honey.

[Miss Needle]

It's also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for its healing properties properties.

http://tcm.health-info.org/Herbology.Materia.Medica/shengjiang-properties.htm

When ginger is dried, the healing properties change.

http://tcm.health-info.org/Herbology....

[kmcarr]

FYI, ginger is a rhizome, not a tuber. Tubers are sub-type of rhizome specialized for starch storage (e.g. a potato) and ginger is not in this category.

[coll]

I always understood it to be good for the digestion. My entire extended family is addicted to it, although more as sweets like hard candy and gingersnaps.

[tracylee]

Yes, it's known to be good for nausea. I recently had some health issues, which my SO incorrectly (no matter how often I told him differently) ascribed to nausea. The local health food store sold him two different types of ginger remedies.

I think I'll take them along next time I think I might get carsick or seasick.

[jumpingmonk]

If I recall, when the Mythbusters crew tried out varios seasickness cures, ginger was the ONLY one that actually worked, it even beat out the over the counter MEDICAL seasickness cures.

[tracylee]

I believe it. Last time I went whale watching I tried wrist bands (which work fine in the car), Dramamine AND some behind the ear drops, and still got horribly sick.

No longer will I willingly go into the open ocean off the Oregon Coast in a small boat! My SO can deep sea fish to his heart's content and I'll read a book at a nice cafe or bar on shore.

[FrankD]

I used to enjoy lunch at a small sushi spot in Toronto on Fridays, when the "Chef's Choice" special was a massive plate of sushi and sashimi, delivered after starters of salad, soup, porridge, and an amuse-bouche (is there a Japanese term for this?). It was really good (especially for $10!), but I would always feel a bit stuffed after finishing.

However, along with the bill would come up a small cup of a ginger tea. I would drink that, and my stomach would feel much better in just a few seconds. He wouldn't give me the recipe, though.

[luckyfatima]

According to South Asian food/health associations, ginger is warming. Now that the winter is coming, believers will increase the amount of ginger added to their cooking for this chilly season. So when they usually use a 1:1 quantity of garlic and ginger to make a garlic ginger paste, they will add more ginger during the cold weather.

Ginger is also known to be good for a sore throat.

Many dishes taste good with fresh slivers of ginger added at the very end of cooking or as a consumable garnish.