Ginger Root

A delicious spice, a helpful medicinal herb and a luscious tropical plant, Ginger, Zingiber officinale belongs in everyone’s kitchen.  With the cold and flu season upon us, a hot ginger tea mixed with honey and lemon is warming to the body, warding off chills and the stiffness of an achy flu.  To make Ginger tea, buy good quality organic Ginger Root (readily available at most grocery stores), cut it in small pieces, or grate it, measure out a tablespoon of chopped ginger to each pint of water, and decoct (gently boil) the herb for at least 20 minutes. If this simple tea is not enough, and an infection persists, try adding some chopped garlic to the decoction.  My dear friend, Linda, just tried this and she felt better in a day.

Ginger Root tea is also excellent for digestion, allaying nausea, and may be used in a compress.  To make a compress, soak a soft cloth in the Ginger tea and place it on your aching muscles.  Top it with another towel or plastic to keep in the heat.  Replace the compress every 20 minutes as needed.

The rhizome of the Ginger plant is not only used medicinally, but many cultures use grated or chopped ginger in their foods.  Ginger is a wonderful accompaniment when stir frying vegetables, in oriental dishes, cakes and cookies and refreshing drinks.  It’s a native of Asia, but cultivated in the West Indies, Jamaica, Africa and southern Florida.  Ginger is an exotic looking tropical plant and can be planted in our local gardens in the shade.  If you’d like you can just cut a small piece of the root you buy at the store and plant it with an eye facing up.  Soon, if you’re lucky, it will sprout leaves and perhaps a fragrant, lovely bloom will enhance your garden.

 I often use Ginger Root as a digestive aid.  This fantastic herb increases the flow of digestive juices and strengthens and tones the muscles in the stomach walls.  After a full meal, I will either brew a cup of Ginger Tea or chew on a small piece of crystallized Ginger.  I carry both of those items in my first aid kit as the stomach may easily get upset when traveling. When I traveled to my niece’s wedding celebration in Key West, a group of us set out for snorkeling the day of the wedding.  The waters were choppy but this was the only day we could go.  I have a tendency to get seasick, so I just sat quietly chewing on my crystallized ginger, offering pieces to some others.  They politely refused.  Before we reached our destination, I felt fine but several others were vomiting overboard.  Then they asked for the Ginger.  It works!!  Ginger root teas are also helpful for morning sickness, particularly with an additional infusion of fresh Peppermint.  I also dry fresh Ginger Root and use it to make several different medicinal tea blends.

So, as you can see, keep some fresh Ginger Root in a brown paper bag in your refrigerator and it will be helpful to you and your family in many ways.  It is pungent, tasty, warming and medicinally helpful in so many ways.