Fall is here and it’s the time of year I start to turn to ginger in my cooking. The delicious warming and flavorful herb is not only tasty, but also an herb in Chinese Medicine with many healing properties. Here are some examples of what ginger can do and how you can incorporate it into your cooking.
Ginger (sheng jiang): acrid and warm. Enters the Stomach, Lung and Spleen.
1. Releases exterior and disperses cold for exterior cold patterns: Ever notice how when you start to feel run down and achy, a hot beverage seems like just the thing. Here’s a quick easy ginger tea recipe to help kick that cold out before it has time to settle in:Ginger Tea
5-6 slices of fresh ginger (about ¼ inch thick)
2 cups water
Simmer gently for 6-8 minutes in a sauce pan. Strain out ginger, bundle up, drink and enjoy! For an extra releasing kick, add in the white bulbs of 5 scallions.
5-6 slices of fresh ginger (about ¼ inch thick)
2 cups water
Simmer gently for 6-8 minutes in a sauce pan. Strain out ginger, bundle up, drink and enjoy! For an extra releasing kick, add in the white bulbs of 5 scallions.
2. Warms the middle burner and alleviates vomiting for cold in Stomach: Most people know that ginger is an excellent herb to help relieve the symptoms of nausea and vomiting. This can be in the form of ginger tea, dried ginger, or just adding ginger to your cooked dishes. And by “warming the middle burner,” ginger also helps to keep your digestive system strong making it easier to get the Qi from the foods you eat. Here’s an excellent and tasty fall recipe to support your digestion:Roasted Gingered Sweet Potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes
1-2 inches fresh ginger
1 T grass fed butter
Cover the sweet potatoes in foil and cook in a 375 degree oven until tender. Carefully remove the flesh of the potato and put into a bowl. Using a zester, grate the ginger into the potato. Add butter, whip all together, and enjoy!
3. Dispersers cold and stops coughing. This is especially good for cough with white mucus, as in No.1 above; make some fresh ginger tea, add a touch of honey, sip and ease that cough.
So stock up on ginger and reap the benefits!