HOW TO...USE FRESH GINGER ROOT

Ginger Up Your Culinary Repertoire - scroll down for recipes including Medicinal Ginger Tea

Fresh Ginger Root is good for you

Ginger has been around for thousands of years, and not just in Asian and tropical countries.  It was introduced to Europe by the Romans and by the mid-16th century some 2000 tons a year (!) wended its way from East India.

It wasn't just because ginger tastes good and livens up food with zingingly deep flavours.  

It it also because ginger has many health benefits.  It:

• safely reduces nausea from pregnancy or motion sickness
• reduces inflammation/swelling in arthritic conditions
• helps digestion
• stimulates the appetite
• is a soothing home remedy for a cold 
• helps warm you up in cold weather

And it has hardly any calories and no cholesterol!

How to Buy & Use Ginger

Look for fresh-looking, firm, smooth roots with no signs of decay.  A pale colour and lack of wrinkles is often a good sign.  Buy loose from a trusted supermarket or street market but never bagged up in plastic.  it can be grated or cut into matchsticks, depending on the recipe.  But it needs peeling -- easily done with a teaspoon, bowl down, scraping at the surface.  

How to choose & treat ginger

Some of the ginger in the shops will be in quite large pieces with lots of knobs jutting off the main stem.  It is perfectly okay to break off a piece that suits your needs to take to the check-out counter. It's cheaper and may be easier to buy ginger fresh rather than going through the palaver of freezing it.

Storage  

Ginger will keep 3 weeks in the fridge if not peeled.  It also freezes well.  

If freezing, slice thickly and freeze flat, then bag up.  Peel and grate or slice thinly in its frozen state, being careful to catch any juices. Chunks of it can go into stews for flavour then removed later.

Ginger Tea for Medicinal Purposes
The traditional way of making Ginger tea involves a lot of steeping and cooking to make a paste.  This method is easier.   Take 1 1/2 tsp of grated ginger and the finely grated zest of half a lemon and add it to 300 ml/1 1/2 cups boiling water. Cover & steep 10 mins.  Strain.  Add 1/2-1 tbsp maple syrup, and, if you like, the juice of half a lemon.  The mix is best taken warm but can be cooled and refrigerated. Some might prefer to take this diluted with a mix of 1/3 or 1/2 water.  Flavour enhancers include cinnamon and mint.
(Another medicinal ginger drink: Throat Soothing Fruit Smoothie)

             

Sweet Crystallised and Stem Ginger 

Ginger and Desserts 

67 often uses grated fresh or dried ginger in fruit desserts: Hot Pineapple Pudding, Pear, Ginger and Blackberry Crumble and Plum, Ginger and Orange Crumble.   The ginger adds a mellow kick and a bite that sweetens fruit.  The results are popular.

Crystallised ginger is an essential element in the Blogger's all-time favourite Gingerbread Cookies.  The cookies are a sophisticated treat, dark with molasses and heavy with sharply flavoured chunks of preserved ginger. 

Ginger syrup and finely diced plump globules of stem ginger heightens the juiceiness of a soft fruit salad.  For an indulgent treat, use it to flavour a thick yoghurt cream. (Yoghurt Cream with Candied Ginger)

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This information has been compiled by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.