Herb & Spice Companion

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HERB & SPICE COMPANION

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GINGER

Zingiber officinale

Flavors: fresh pungent, tangy,

sweet, and ranging from warm to

fiery; dried warm, lightly spicy,

and sweet, with lemon

Ginger is a beautiful, tropical plant that has a thick, knobbed rhizome growing under-

ground. It’s the rhizome that produces one of the world’s most popular spices, with a

pungent flesh that changes in flavor as it ages and offers countless uses in the kitchen.

Fresh rhizomes should be plump and solid with smooth, taut skin. Ginger can

be prepared and sold in a variety of tasty ways: pickled, preserved in syrup, crystal-

lized or candied, dried, and juiced. Sushi

lovers know pickled ginger as the pink,

thinly sliced condiment served along-

side wasabi in Japanese restaurants; this

preparation is known in Japan as gari.

Dried ground ginger is commonly used

in pie spices and baked sweets (like gin-

gerbread!), as well as in many savory

spice blends from around the world,

including curry powders, barbecue sea-

sonings, Ethiopian berbere, Moroccan

ras el hanout, and French quatre épices

(see page 250).

In the Garden

In temperate climates, plant ginger, which is a perennial, in a container to bring

indoors in cooler weather. Rhizomes harvested while they’re young are sweeter, juic-

ier, and softer, while those allowed to age grow coarse, fibrous, and more pungent;

harvest times will vary according to your tastes. The longer you let your ginger grow

and hold off harvesting, the larger the harvest will be.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Ginger is a traditional go-to remedy

for nausea and vomiting, particularly

when caused by motion sickness,

morning sickness, surgical procedures,

and medications. But it has many

other health benefits, too: Its anti-

inflammatory and analgesic properties

help relieve symptoms of arthritis,

muscle pain, and cramps. Consumed

as a tea, ginger warms the body from

the inside and can help reduce fevers.

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