Tuesday 3 May 2011

Number 13 - Ginger

The spice ginger, from the root of the plant Zingiber officinale, has many varried uses.

Ginger is popular when used in gingerbread and ginger cookies. In medicinal uses, the spice is used as help in easing nausea (especially that caused by motion sickness) and diarrhea. In treating motion sickness, the root is no more powerful than regular anti-nausea tablets, however they do not produce the same side effects as the regular medicines. There is also evidence for the spice effectively treating some forms of cancer.

However, when taking the root as a medicine, bare in mind that in similar manner to other herbs, they can interact with other medicines such as warifin. Ginger is not recommended for people with gallstones.

Ginger can be taken in foods, as a tea, or as tablets.

Some adorable gingerbread biscuits, one of the most popular Western uses of ginger (Source Unknown. I do not take credit for these gingerbread men)

5 comments:

  1. That's really interesting, I never knew there were so many practical uses for ginger lol

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  2. Gingerbread, om nom nom :D

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  3. I love ginger! Clears up my sinuses like *POOF*.

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  4. I always use ginger when cooking; didn't know it was also good for my health!

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