As we head toward the darkest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, I feel the need to find my roots, like the trees do. This can be in the practices that I do in Qi Gong and Meditation or even in the food and herbs that I ingest. A few years back, I wrote about the famous herb, Ginger. We find it in stores here like any other produce; recently I even came across Ginger grown in Switzerland. It has become one of those common household herb all over the world. It can be used as food, as a beverage and as medicine, when one knows how. This is the power of this plant.
Ginger originates from Maritime South-East Asia, which includes Malaysia, the place where I was born and raised. From this area, this plant began to spread to places like India, China and Arabia, which then came to Europe via the Roman empire. The Chinese described in text written in the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) how Confucius ate Ginger with every meal.
In the Chinese Materia Medica, Ginger is listed in a few different forms. They are fresh Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang), Ginger peel (Cortex Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜皮 Shēng Jīang Pí), dried Ginger (Rhizoma Zingiberis Officinalis, 干姜 Gān Jīang) and quick-fried Ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Praeparata, 炮姜Páo Jīang). This is because Ginger is a very versatile being. Each form can have one or more of the the abilities to warm, heat up, disperse edema, dispel the effects of toxic substances or harmonize the effects of other herbs.
In its fresh form, just like we get them here in the normal grocery store, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 生姜 Shēng Jīang, is a food-grade herb. As such, one can cook it with other ingredients to enhance the taste of that particular food, like fish, meat or vegetables. In some Asian supermarkets, you may find young ginger, that which is yellowish in color with a green stem protruding out of the rhizome. This form is a little less warming than the older brown version. Herbal decoctions regularly containing multiple Herbs, prescribed by a Chinese medical practitioner, often includes Ginger to harmonize the Herbal Formula combinations; aiding better absorption of the Herbs into the body and to prevent possible toxic side-effects from other potent Herbs. In fact, I have read that Ginger can be used as a remedy for food poisoning, and is cooked with fish in order to neutralize toxins in many traditions.
In the everyday, we can grate it, make an Herbal infusion out of it just by adding hot water and letting it steep for 10 minutes just as a beverage. This can be very helpful too if you had symptoms like chills and/or fever caused by the common cold virus. In fact, making a foot-bath or a whole-body-bath with this infusion till one gets warm and sweaty would also help expel what we call "Wind-Cold Invasion" in Chinese Medicine. If you wanted to enhance the digestive effect of Ginger, then you can throw in a couple of slices of Ginger into a pot with water and cook it for at least 15 minutes. This infusion would be less spicy but more warming for the Stomach, good for stopping nausea and vomiting in pregnancy or otherwise, help relieve bloating and digestive distress. Shēng Jīang enters the Lung, Spleen and Stomach, is spicy and warm. In contrast, Shēng Jīang Pí, Ginger Peel is spicy-cool and is good for edema and promoting urination.
As with anything, too much of a good thing transforms it into a hindrance. If you tend to heat in your system, then too much Ginger will overheat you. A spicy flavor will circulate Qi and too much circulation will dry out the body. Use moderately or speak with your practitioner, if Ginger is appropriate for you. I find that this is one of the many simple herbal foods that I almost always have at home or with me when I travel. One of our favorite meals is rice with chicken, cooked with Ginger, soya sauce and Sesame oil; a simple but scrumptious recipe passed down to me from my mother, which is also a postpartum remedy. Like so much around the world, people have used food as medicine since time in memorial. It is only us modern urban-dwelling, city-folk, who are often times disconnected from nature, who question the validity of food being able to affect our health or never really realize that what we put into our bodies might affect who we become.
Ginger’s power lies in its versatility to transform from home remedy, to medicine, to regular beverage for the everyday. It doesn’t have to have fancy packaging or come out of a gilded bottle to be potent. It is this simplicity that makes Ginger mighty.
Image Ginger Root by Engin Akyurt on pexels.com
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