Ginger
February 23rd, 2007 by admin
 Ginger
 Also Known As
African Ginger
Ardraka
Black Ginger
Chiang
Gan-jiang
Ginger
Nagara
Race Ginger
Shen-jiang
Sunthi
Ginger was given its official botanical name, Zingiber officinale, by the famous eighteenth-century Swedish botanist, Linnaeus. Linnaeus derived the genus title Zingiber from its Indian Sanskrit name singabera which means shaped like a horn.
Ginger is one of more than 1,400 species belonging to the Zingiberaceae family, sharing the family’s most popular honors with the spices turmeric (a principal component of curry) and cardamom. Ginger is a slender perennial reaching 24 to 39 inches in height. Its first stems are longer than the second and latter stems and bear beautifully fragrant flowers which are greenish-yellow and streaked with purple. The leaves are a dark green with a prominent midrib that is sheathed at the base, and the seeds are found in the rare fruiting body.
The most familiar part of the ginger plant used in commerce is the irregularly shaped and sized underground section which we erroneously call a root. Although ginger will probably always be associated with the term root, it is botanically correct to call it a rhizome. Unlike a root which dies if it is split, ginger can actually generate whole new plants from its budded sections. It is from these buds that ginger has been cultivated for thousands of years. Ginger grows best in a hot and moist climate with available shade, and in soil that is rich in loam and well tilled. The ginger rhizome is aromatic and thick lobed and ranges from white to yellow in color. One of the prized varieties and most unusual exceptions to this color range is a variety that possesses a characteristic blue ring which circles the fleshy interior.
Ginger is today the world’s most widely cultivated spice. There are as many opinions as to who grows the best ginger as there are countries and regions that cultivate it. Ginger appears in so many varieties, with an estimated fifty in India alone, that any favoritism is a matter of personal taste. Each variety possesses its own distinctive flavor and aroma depending upon the soil and the manner in which it is grown. The most pungent gingers are reported to come from Africa, while milder varieties are found in China. There is some consensus that the milder gingers are better for culinary applications while the spicier varieties are best from a beverage and therapeutic standpoint.
People frequently subject to blood clots are generally prescribed oral anti-coagulants to help keep their blood relatively thin. One of the most commonly used medications for this is warfarin sodium (better known as coumadin). Unfortunately, it’s also used as a potent rat poison and can lead to serious internal hemorrhaging over an extended period of time. Ginger root is an ideal replacement for such synthetic blood thinners. An average of two capsules twice daily in between meals appears to have helped a small number of those with such problems. Nothing seems to work quite like a hot ginger compress on muscular aches and pains, joint stiffness, abdominal cramps, kidney stone attacks, stiff neck, neuralgia, toothache, bladder inflammation, prostatitis and extreme body tension. But keep in mind that as wonderful a remedy as it is, time, considerable effort, patience and a certain change in lifestyle are all required in order to make it totally successful.
Ginger has pungent and warming properties that make it a valuable medicine. Ginger has a stimulating effect on the heart and circulation, creating a feeling of warmth and well-being and restoring vitality, especially for those feeling the cold in winter. Hot ginger tea promotes perspiration, brings down a fever and helps to clear catarrh. Ginger has a stimulating and expectorant action in the lungs, expelling phlegm and relieving catarrhal coughs and chest infections. Ginger is a wonderful warming aid to the digestion. Ginger invigorates the stomach and intestines, stimulating the appetite and enhancing digestion by encouraging secretion of digestive enzymes. Ginger moves stagnation of food and subsequent accumulation of toxins, which has a far-reaching effect throughout the body, increasing general health and vitality and enhancing immunity. Ginger is famous for relieving nausea and vomiting, from whatever cause. It settles the stomach, soothes indigestion and calms wind. Its pain-relieving and relaxing effects in the gut relieve colic and spasm, abdominal pain, distension and flatulent indigestion and help to relieve griping caused by diarrhea. In the uterus it promotes menstruation, useful for delayed and scanty periods as well as clots. Ginger relaxes spasm and relieves painful ovulation and periods, and is recommended to invigorate the reproductive system. Ginger also inhibits clotting and thins the blood; it lowers blood pressure and cholesterol. Because of its heating properties ginger is not recommended for those who do not tolerate heat well or those with gastritis or peptic ulcers.
PARTS USED
Rhizome, root, essential oil.
USES
Digestive problems - Ginger is an excellent remedy for many digestive complaints, such as indigestion, nausea, gas, and colic. Ginger relieves motion sickness and morning sickness. Ginger’s antiseptic qualities also make it highly beneficial for gastro-intestinal infections, including some types of food poisoning.
Circulatory stimulant - Ginger stimulates the circulation, and helps blood to flow to the surface, making it an important remedy for chilblains and poor circulation to the hands and feet. By improving the circulation, ginger helps high blood pressure. Ginger also increases sweating and helps reduce body temperature in fevers.
Respiratory conditions - Ginger is warming and soothing for coughs, colds, flu, and other respiratory problems.
Chinese herb - Fresh and dried ginger are different remedies in China. Fresh ginger is given for fever, headaches, and aching muscles.
Dried ginger is used for “internal cold,” with symptoms such as cold hands, a weak pulse, and a pale complexion.
Other medical uses - Lymphedema, Strep Throat, Tennis elbow, Viral infection.
HABITAT AND CULTIVATION
Native to Asia, ginger is grown throughout the tropics. Ginger is propagated by dividing the rootstock. Ginger flourishes in fertile soil and needs plenty of rain. The rhizome is unearthed when the plant is 10 months old. It is washed, soaked, and sometimes boiled and peeled.
RESEARCH
Therapeutic properties - Ginger is well researched, and its therapeutic benefits are largely due to its volatile oil and oleoresin content. Gingerol is an acrid constituent, responsible for much of the herb’s hot taste and stimulating properties. The shogaols, formed as the plant dries, are more strongly irritant and acrid than the constituents present in the fresh rhizome.
Antiemetic - Ginger is highly effective for motion sickness. Trials at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in 1990 found the herb more effective than conventional medicines in relieving postoperative nausea.
Antiseptic - In a trial in China 70% of patients with bacillary dysentery who were given ginger made a full recovery.
CONSTITUENTS
Ginger contains volatile oil (inc. borneol, citral), phenols, alkaloid, mucilage.
HOW MUCH TO TAKE
Most people take 2 - 4 grams of the dried rhizome powder two to three times per day or a tincture of 1.5 - 3 ml three times daily. For treatment of nausea, people try single doses of approximately 250 mg every two to three hours, for a total of 1 gram per day. For prevention of motion sickness, many people start taking ginger tablets, capsules, or liquid herbal extract two days before the planned trip.
SIDE EFFECTS AND CAUTIONS
Side effects of ginger are rare when used as recommended. However, some people may be sensitive to the taste or may experience heartburn. Persons with a history of gallstones should consult a nutritionally oriented doctor before using ginger. Short-term use of ginger for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy appears to pose no safety problems; however, long-term use during pregnancy is not recommended. A doctor should be informed if ginger is used before surgery to counteract possible post anesthesia nausea.
HOW IT WORKS IN THE BODY
The phenolic compounds are the agents responsible for relaxing the muscles of the stomach, and this may also explain their effect in easing travel or motion sickness. Fresh or dried, the root has been shown to minimize vomiting. In addition, the phenolic ingredients act within the stomach as a sedative and painkiller, which helps to reduce over-activity of the gut. In stomach infections, the oil acts as an antiseptic and an anti-inflammatory. The gingerols alone are thought to be responsible for ginger’s action as a liver protective. In the cardiovascular system, ginger is thought to also reduce cholesterol levels, while at the same time increasing a sluggish circulation. In China, the fresh rhizome is used to warm the stomach to ease vomiting, and to fight off colds, chills and coughs, especially where there is phlegm, and for bloating, while the dried rhizome is used for abdominal pain. The Chinese properties are those of acrid and warm.
APPLICATIONS
FRESH ROOT:
DECOCTION - For chills and phlegmy colds, use 1 - 2 slices to a cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes. A pinch of cinnamon can be added.
 TINCTURE - Use 2 -10 drops per dose as a warming circulatory stimulant; also for flatulence, indigestion, and nausea.
DRIED ROOT:
 CAPSULES - Take 1 - 2 x 200 mg capsules before a journey for travel sickness. Use up to 1 g doses for morning sickness in pregnancy.
DECOCTION - The Chinese use dried ginger in combination with other herbs as a restorative for yang or spleen energies, for abdominal fullness, nausea, and excess phlegm.
ESSENTIAL OIL:
MASSAGE OIL - Add 5Â - 10 drops ginger oil to 25 ml almond oil for rheumatism or lumbago. Combines well with juniper or eucalyptus oil.
OIL - Use 1 - 2 drops on a sugar lump or in half a teaspoon of honey for flatulence, menstrual cramps, nausea, or stomach upsets.
QUALITY OF GINGER
The first concern for those who supplement their diet with ginger should be the quality of the original rhizome. Ginger can be valuable in many forms; however, if the original starting material is old, shriveled, moldy or chemically treated, it will obviously not yield the same values as a product created from a fresh, organically grown rhizome.
To insure an international supply of top-quality ginger products, an extensive grading system has been developed. Unfortunately, one of the issues which needs greater attention is that of chemical exposure. During cultivation, storage and processing, ginger can be barraged with chemicals, including mercury compounds, chlorinated hydrocarbons, fungicides and fumigants.
Ultimately, the opportunity to examine the fresh ginger rhizome and review it for chemical exposure before processing it into powder or finished products would be ideal. Considering that in most cases this would be a very difficult or impossible process, one’s first choice should be to seek out an organic product that has been certified through any number of state and international organizations. This is especially important for people who are interested in taking larger amounts of ginger for therapeutic reasons.
Starting with fresh or dry rhizome, ginger is processed into a myriad of finished forms including syrups, candies, jams, capsules, extracts, liqueurs, pickles, cookies and beer, to name a few. If researchers noticed that a ginger marmalade could have had such a dramatic impact on platelet aggregation, then the therapeutic principles are obviously quite stable or resistant to processing. Therefore, it is fair to say that each finished form has its own distinct advantages. Candied forms, for example, might be objected to because of the presence of sucrose but if a choice is to be made between an artificially flavored and colored confection and a candy with an actual health potential, the choice is clear. Besides, the candied form actually gives ginger a wider, more mainstream audience to offer benefit, including people who might never have considered taking ginger as a health supplement.
To receive two of the best-researched therapeutic constituent groups of ginger, the gingerols (fresh) and shogaols (dry), it is reasonable to assert that a combination of ginger products is best. Depending upon the processing methods, different products will have varying levels of these two critical groups. Gingerols and shogaols each have their own health advantages. For example, the gingerols are more potent as antihepatotoxics and anthelmintics, while the shogaols appear to be more effective as anti-inflammatory agents, antipyretics and analgesics.
The individual value of each ginger product is confirmed in traditional Oriental medicine where four different forms of ginger-fresh, dried, steamed and roasted- are actually considered separate medications, each prescribed for a specific group of applications. To alleviate the concern that one needs to consume every conceivable ginger product to gain benefit, one Chinese study suggests that all the forms have more in common than one would suspect. Of twenty-five studied elements, there was only a maximum variation of three novel or missing constituents.
Get Fresh
Whatever the final form, it is easy to argue that there is an intangible advantage to the fresh ginger rhizome. The flavor of fresh ginger is itself a study in culinary art. This is underlined by a recent fragrance test which noted that fresh ginger can be recognized for its scent at a dilution as low as 1 part in 35,000, while powdered ginger is only 1 part in 1,500-2,000. The fresh form can be used in many different applications from hot compresses and culinary spice to medicinal tea.
It is understandable why anyone who has ever used a ginger compress names it as one of their most precious health routines. Among myriad applications, a ginger compress is remarkably effective for virtually all external signs of inflammatory processes including muscular stiffness and headaches. It is also a most valuable healing remedy for swollen glands, chest and head colds and stomach cramps.
Ginger tea is the perfect after-dinner drink, fasting staple, weight-loss aid and pain or cold remedy. To make a tea, place approximately 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated rhizome into 8 ounces of boiling water, cover pot and steep for 10 to 15 minutes, allowing full extraction of the fresh rhizome. Strain and add honey to taste. Ginger also makes an excellent tonifying iced tea.
Adding fresh ginger to the diet can be done in a wonderful variety of ways. You can add ginger as part of a daily juicing routine including carrot and apple. Be careful to gradually add the fresh ginger juice to your routine gradually as it is quite potent.
Certainly the Sweetest
Candied ginger ranks as one of the world’s most popular confections. Processed with fresh ginger and sucrose, it can be a convenient form for taking ginger while traveling or as a delightful and effective after-dinner digestive aid.
A honey-based syrup offers an even more desirable means to deliver the health benefits of ginger. Honey has a long history of being used to deliver the therapeutic values of herbs, and ginger is no exception. Dating back to the sixth-century A.D., a recipe is described for a ginger-honey syrup. Honey offers its own range of excellent synergistic values to ginger, especially if the ginger can be low-heat-infused into the honey. Besides enhancing the flavor, preservation, and variety of applications for a ginger product, honey possesses its own range of antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal, wound-healing, and anti-ulcer properties.
While honey broadens ginger’s antibacterial and antifungal benefits, combined with ginger it also enhances its anti-ulcer properties. Honey is protective to the gastric mucosa and shows significant activity against Helicobacter pylori, the species associated with peptic ulcers. For those people concerned about a potential conflict between honey and blood sugar or candida albicans treatment programs, evidence suggests that honey is significantly better tolerated than commonly used simple sugars like sucrose. A factor in honey is also found active against candida albicans.
In addition to the ginger-and-honey combination, a health tonic or cough/cold syrup, ginger-and-honey can be used as a hot beverage or tea sweetener, cooking seasoning or table sauce, dessert topping or mixed with carbonated water to create a delicious homemade ginger ale.
To produce your own ginger syrup, add one part of fresh ginger, grated or juiced, to three parts of honey and refrigerate (be sure to peel the ginger rhizome to extend its values and prevent fermentation.) Generally one to two teaspoons will be appropriate per 8 ounces of carbonated or hot water.
From tablespoon to tub
One of the most versatile and powerful ways to experience the benefits of ginger is as a dehydrated powder. In this form one can obtain two principal values: 1) up to ten times the concentration of certain fresh ginger elements; and 2) novel therapeutic compounds. Powdered ginger will have more nutrients because of the removal of moisture, but more importantly it will possess high levels of shogaols, which are reported to possess more of ginger’s significant aspirin-like qualities.
After a high-quality source has been verified, powdered ginger can be effectively used both internally and externally. Powdered ginger can be used in many of the same applications as the fresh form including compresses, as a tea and in cooking. Taken in capsules, or by the teaspoon in food or in liquid, this form provides the anti-inflammatory benefits and an excellent spectrum of digestive, cardiovascular tonic-protectant properties. Used externally in compresses or in baths, ginger powder provides powerful, stimulating, transdermal and aromatherapeutic effects. Ginger powder is excellent as a moistened chest compress or added by the tablespoon to a hot bath for relief of muscle strains and cold symptoms. To make a chest compress with powdered ginger simply moisten 2-3 teaspoons with hot water and spread over a hot, wet cotton towel. If skin is sensitive, use less and build up slowly.
Alcohol’s bright side
Alcohol is recognized traditionally and in modern research as an excellent extraction agent for the properties of herbs. A double-macerated or highly potent alcohol extract of dried ginger can deliver all the benefits of this form including significant levels of beneficial shogaols. To maximize or balance the benefits of this alcohol extract, fresh ginger juice can be added. This addition serves a dual purpose; while it complements the dried with its unique fresh elements like gingerols, it lowers the final alcohol concentration to a level that most people should well tolerate.
The principal benefits of the extracted form are convenience and concentration. Within seconds a dropper of the extract, taken straight, or in a glass of water, will deliver the full range of ginger’s dried and fresh benefits. Although it is not as practical to use the extract in cooking or compresses, as a therapeutic form it offers the most immediate and powerful therapeutic response for the treatment of digestive disorders or cold symptoms.
THE ESSENCE OF GINGER
The essence of ginger can be summarized:
* Ginger offers a variety of therapeutic effects which no modern medication can rival. Unfortunately, due to a monopolistic health-care system and a historically biased regulatory environment, full awareness of ginger’s value has been limited.
* Ginger is the most popular of hundreds of members of the Zingiberaceae family. To be botanically correct, ginger is a rhizome and not a root. Ginger is available in many varieties, from mild to spicy, and requires tropical conditions and fertile soil for optimal growth.
* Over a period of 5,000 years, ginger traveled from Southeast Asia to the New World. Considered a treasure by some of the great figures of history, its ancient trade helped shape nations and insure its worldwide cultivation.
* The observed effects of ginger are the result of the interactions of more than 400 constituents which can be broken down into four major classes: taste, fragrance, nutrients and synergists. While most of the therapeutic focus is on the pungent taste compounds, called gingerols and shogaols, ginger’s protein-digesting enzyme and antioxidant are also key elements.
* Observed effects like anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, antimicrobial and digestive benefit can all result from one principal action-i.e., enzyme action. An observed effect, such as an anti-inflammatory one, can also have a variety of principal actions at its root: enzyme, eicosanoid balance and antioxidant.
* The dynamics of eicosanoids represent a key to understanding the diversity of ginger’s actions. Eicosanoids are physiologically active compounds that the body synthesizes from essential fatty acids. When these elements become imbalanced, a wide variety of disease conditions can evolve.
* The pharmaceutical industry has attempted to modulate eicosanoids to treat a host of disease conditions but has essentially failed because of serious side effects.
* Ginger naturally helps balance these vitally important eicosanoids without side effects.
* Over millennia, millions of people have enjoyed the benefits of ginger. For spiritual upliftment, digestive comfort and strength, stimulation and relief from infumity, ginger has been heralded as the herb of choice and has been included in most of traditional Eastern formulas. Ginger is quite aptly described in the traditional language of Sanskrit as vishwabhesaj, the universal medicine.
* In more recent times, in the early part of the twentieth century, more than 25,000 U.S. physicians) the Eclectics, lauded the pain-relieving and cold-fighting values of ginger.
* Ginger was used historically in different regions of the world for the same basic therapeutic applications. These include: analgesic, anti-arthritic, wound healing, anthelmintic, anti-ulcer, stimulant and aphrodisiac properties, plus treatment of a variety of respiratory, reproductive and digestive complaints.
* Ginger is a preventive treatment for critical cardiovascular disorders. Like aspirin, ginger holds the potential to prevent thousands of deaths from heart attacks and strokes as well as colon cancer. But unlike aspirin, it will have no side effects.
* The anti-ulcer effect of ginger is complemented by a host of other important digestive values which include relief of both diarrhea and constipation, liver protection and pro-biotic support.
* The anti-nausea effect of ginger is well documented. From nausea resulting from chemotherapy and ocean travel to pregnancy and gynecological surgery, ginger is the natural treatment of choice.
* Ginger, the bioavailability herb, assists the digestion of other nutrients and is a recommended addition to natural supplement regimes.
* Parasites pose a much greater threat to the industrialized world than is generally recognized. Ginger exhibits a wide range of anti-parasitic activities.
* The historic observation that ginger is a cold remedy is a result of a combination of principal actions including eicosanoid balance, pro-biotic support, antitoxic and cytoprotective influences.
* Ginger possesses a significant anti-mutagenic potential against such powerful carcinogens as benzopyrene and the most toxic burned byproducts of the amino acid tryptophan. Research also warrants further investigation into ginger’s anticancer properties and its role in a cancer-treatment program.
* Ginger has been shown to affect positively parameters of health such as cholesterol and blood sugar and balance numerous body systems including the circulatory, respiratory and reproductive systems. Ginger’s beneficial effects have also been demonstrated in external treatments with dramatic results.
* Ginger is a remarkably safe herb. No modern pharmaceutical can compete with its range of therapeutic properties and absence of adverse side effects. Care and moderation should be exercised when using ginger during pregnancy and before surgery. Up to 1 gram daily of the powdered herb should be a safe preventive dosage for the general population. In all cases, introduction of ginger into the diet should be gradual.
* The effectiveness of ginger will be dependent upon the quality of the rhizome. Since commercial ginger is subject to many potential levels of chemical contamination, organically certified products are recommended.
* Both fresh and dry ginger are recommended forms for supplementation. There will be different properties gained from each. Ginger is commercially available in many forms including fresh, dried, syrup, capsules and extract.
GINGER TEA FOR WOMEN
This ginger tea is extraordinarily healing for all female organs and the intestines, as well as for stressed nerves and a sluggish metabolism.
* a thumb-sized piece of ginger
* 2 cups (1/2 l) milk
* 1 cups (1/4 l) water
Peel the ginger and grate or slice very fine. Simmer very slowly for about 20 minutes in the water. Now add up to 2 cups (1/2 l) milk and let it boil up. Remove from the heat and sweeten with honey or cane sugar. Ginger tea is best consumed in small sips over the course of the day, as required. In the morning and before meals it stimulates digestion; on cold winter afternoons it warms and protects from the flu. Many women take the tea after miscarriages or abdominal surgery, to promote the healing of the uterus.
Ginger tea is so effective against ailments of the reproductive and digestive systems because it stimulates circulation and supports a good blood supply to these organs. Bloating can be treated with this tea, by adding a pinch of cinnamon. In the presence of stomach ulcers, however, modest amounts of this tea are recommended and the quantity of ginger can be cut down. Similarly, in the early weeks of pregnancy, the further stimulation of blood flow into the abdomen is not recommended, so go easy on ginger at this time. Modest amounts, however, are a great remedy for morning sickness.
CANDIED GINGER
* 1 lb. fresh ginger root
* 3 cups cold water
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 cup cold water
* 1 cup superfine sugar
Pare the root and cut into long narrow slices, across the grain. Cover with about 1 1/2 cups cold water in a saucepan and heat to boiling. Simmer 5 minutes, drain, and cover with cold water again. Heat to boiling, simmer 5 minutes more. Drain. Dry well.
Combine granulated sugar and 1 cup of water in a small kettle. Boil 10 minutes. Add the ginger slices and cook over very low heat. Do not boil. Stir, and cook until all the syrup is absorbed, about 40 minutes. Remove the ginger, and dry on a rack.
Roll the cooled ginger in superfine sugar, and let it stand in the sugar until it has crystalized.
