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Aka: Ginger Root, Stem Ginger
Ginger ale, ginger beer, candied ginger, gingerbread, ginger snaps, and the pale pink, paper-thin slices of pickled ginger mounded next to sushi--there's no other spice that helps define so many dishes, East and West. Second only to salt as an Asian condiment, as a medicinal, ginger is even more remarkable. Herbalist Deni Brown notes that ginger occurs in about half of all Chinese and Ayurvedic prescriptions and in Ayruveda is known as vishwabhesaj, or "universal medicine." Equally valued in the West, it was listed as a taxable commodity by the Romans in AD 200.
Ginger in medieval England was understood to "quicken the remembrance," writes Lorna Sass in To the King's Taste: Richards II's Book of Feasts and Recipes. The medieval kitchen was not limited as we are to one variety but could choose between green, white, columbine, and string ginger. Ginger is actually a rhizome, or enlarged underground stem. It grows in the shape of a palm with fingers, called a hand of ginger. It's a small plant with slender stalks. Ginger is native to tropical India, and today grows throughout tropical and subtropical areas and in greenhouses in temperate regions.
Health Benefits: Ginger has a peppery, pungent taste. It is warming, stimulates digestion, and boosts circulation, respiration and nervous system function. By increasing circulation, it helps effect a systemic cleansing through the skin, bowels, and kidneys. Ginger treats colds and fevers and is an effective remedy for motion sickness, nausea from chemotherapy, and sometimes morning sickness. It is anti-inflammatory and destroys many intestinal parasites. It normalizes blood pressure and helps support the liver. It eases congestion in the throat and lungs, relieving symptoms of cold and flu, and helps alleviate menstrual discomfort. To relieve headaches, rub a few drops of ginger juice over the affected area.
There are no adverse side effects listed in current pharmacopoeias, reports a recent issue of HerbalGram; a sixteenth century Ayurvedic text, however, advises not to use ginger with some skin diseases, difficult urination, and hot symptoms, nor in the summer and autumn.
Use: Organic ginger gives a clean, fresh taste to foods and is warming. Dried ground ginger is very heating and is not interchangeable with fresh. I use ground ginger in middle-of-winter-breads, cookies, and puddings but otherwise favor fresh. If necessary, substitute 1/8 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger. An easy way to use ginger is to grate it on a fine grater, then, using your fingertips, press out the juice. A plump, fresh knob of ginger is surprisingly juicy with 1 tablespoon of finely grated pulp yielding 1 teaspoon of juice. As the root dehydrates, its juice yield decreases. The Japanese have a handy grater especially for ginger called an oroshignane available in porcelain or metal, which I recommend. I prefer the small porcelain grater. Even though the metal grater contains a convenient curved surface to catch the just grated ginger, in time the ginger corrodes the metal.
Young, pink-tinged stem ginger is pickled, candied, and used as a fragrant vegetable in Asian stir-fried dishes. Stem ginger is less spicy than mature ginger. The pale yellow flesh is very juicy when fresh, but as it ages it becomes fibrous. The young, smaller fingers have the most delicate flavor. Refrigerate ginger, unwrapped, in the vegetable drawer (if tightly covered, it becomes moldy). If storing a large quantity, bury it in a bucket of clean sand in a cool spot, and the ginger will keep for several months. Ginger is available pickled and candied.
To Peel or Not to Peel
Some cooks peel ginger and, in the process, waste much of its flesh. Peeling is unnecessary unless you're making candy or pickles, and even then the tough skin is removed only for cosmetic and sensory reasons. Whether you use ginger by the slice and remove it prior to serving or finely grate it to express the juice, peeling is superfluous. If you dice, shred, or cut ginger into matchsticks, the minuscule bits of skin softens with cooking and are undetected in a finished dish, so it's not worth peeling. When a whole knob of ginger needs to be peeled, use the edge of a spoon to scrape the ginger. The skin-and only the skin-almost rolls off.
from Rebecca Wood's The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia
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