Ginger - It's Uses and Grow Your Own

Ginger is a herb that is well know throughout the world, but not much is known about it and what benefits it possesses? Did you know you can grow your own in your kitchen?

Young ginger is juicy with a mild taste. They can be pickled in vinegar or even sherry and eaten as a snack. Most ginger is used as an ingredient in many dishes. Ginger can also be used in boiling water to make ginger tea and accompanied by honey to sweeten it.

Older ginger is fibrous and lack moisture. Old ginger roots are very powerful and are used as a spice in Indian and Chinese dishes for flavour. The dishes that suit this are seafood or goat and many vegetarian recipes. There is the powdered version of ginger root, which is used in gingerbread and many other bread and cake dishes.

Ginger is well suited contender for making candy with many carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages using the unique ginger flavour and of course the famous ginger beer which is popular worldwide containing a minimal amount of alcohol as the original recipe involves some fermentation.

Fresh ginger should always be peeled before using in cooking. when storing for up to three months in a freezer if wrapped in a towel and put in a plastic bag.

Ginger is a very useful herb in medical uses. It used to be called 'Jamaica ginger' used as a stimulant with additional use for treating dyspepsia and colic. The taste of conventional medicines where often horrible and ginger was used to disguise this. Moving on, ginger also decreases joint pain from arthritis with the properties believed to thin the blood blood and lower cholesterol therefore effective for treating heart disease.

Ginger also treats Diarrhea and Nausea including seasickness, morning sickness and is especially effective if you have a hangover. Ginger eaten on an empty stomach is an effective cure for congestion, coughs and colds. And for settling stomachs ginger ale or ginger beer have been used for centuries. Ginger water was used to avoid getting heat cramps in America. Ginger has also been historically used to treat inflammation. More recently, treatment with ginger on rats indicate that the herb may be useful for treating diabetes.

You can buy ginger in most big supermarkets in all forms, fresh, dried and powdered. But did you know that you can grow your own? With spring coming up buy some fresh ginger in the shops. Make sure they have 'fingers' the show buds and cut off at least 5cm from the bud. Bury it bud facing upwards in a around 20cm depth of compost in a pot mixed with a little sand. Keep in a warm place and make sure it stays moist. When it get larger transfer it to a bigger pot. It will need feeding with a general pot-plant feeder. When autumn arrived stop watering and let them dry out. When dry you will have you own home grown ginger that you can use in the kitchen.