Ginger is an aromatic herb with an underground rhizome and an erect (hehe) stem which grows up to 75 cm. It has pretty simple and uninteresting spiked leaves that grow out to 15 cm. The prized rhizome or root of ginger branches out pretty well and in an odd way can resemble a short, stubby hand with all its nubby little offshoots. It has circular scars representing the nodes with small scales which fibrous roots are emitted from.
Enthonbotany:
For over 4,400 years Ginger has been used in Arabic, Indian and Asian food and herbal medicine. The unique Zesty flavor of the rhizome has given a certain kick to everything from curries to soft drinks. Its Sanskrit name is “Vishwabhesaj” which means “universal medicine” and has been, in one way or another, celebrated as such by nearly every culture that fucked around with it.
Growing habits:
Everybody knows that ginger comes from Asia but the specifics are a little obscure. Though many ginger farms exist throughout the world in humid climates, there are no known wild growing varieties of it in tropical Asia. Maybe it originated in India and then later got spread to prehistoric south east Asia. I don’t know, no one does. What we do know is that along with pepper, clove and some of the more important spices, ginger was brought to Europe around 2000 years ago and first arrived in southern Europe through Arab trading routes.
Anyways, ginger is usually propagated by root cuttings (usually the outer lobes) in which case the first shoots pop up out of the soil within 2 weeks and are harvested after 9 months. Though there are some varieties of ginger that survive temperatures as low as 20F, most types can only grow outdoors in warm, humid climates. Outdoors, this plant likes a deep, enriched sandy loam but if you’re gonna grown it in a pot use high quality potting soil enriched with compost. Like I said, Ginger thrives when it’s all warm and shit so if indoor growing is the plan you should go with a greenhouse.
Theraputic uses: Nausea, motion sickness (does not cause dry mouth or drowsiness), antiseptic, colds/flus, menstrual cramps
Ginger is notorious for treating Indigestion and nausea. From traditional teas to regular old ginger ale, anyone who’s tried this stuff during the flu, or even a nasty hungover can tell you that it’s fuckin’ tops. A study done by the National Cancer Institute found that patients who took 0.5 to 1 gram of ginger root for three days before and after chemotherapy, along with antinausea medications, experienced and an additional relief on nausea of up to 40 percent. In cases of nausea due to motion sickness, ginger is not only effective but unlike common motion sickness medication, it does not cause dry mouth or drowsiness. In fact, many people find the classic ginger zest to be mildly stimulating. Compounds in ginger have been shown to destroy many of the viruses that cause the common cold. This is goes hand in hand with its treatment for nausea as well as the fact that it can really open up your sinuses.
According to the National Library of Medicine, two phytochemicals (which are just chemicals found in plants and me using that term is a way of me saying that I went to college and you didn’t) found in ginger, zingerone and dehydrozingerone have shown to have radioprotective effects on mice ALL UP IN DA LAB (which means “in lab studies” but I wanted to phrase it in a down to earth way despite the fact that I went to college and you didn’t). Yeah, this shit helped mice stave off radiation sickness and sometimes even death while they were being blasted with gamma rays like the NLM was just TRYING to make some kinda mouse-hulk monstrosity, but hey, these are the risks we are gonna have to take in order to make further advances in modern medicine.
Chad’s Personal Recipes: Homemade Ginger Ale
You wanna slug down some ginger ale but feel special because you made it yourself instead of just picking it up at the store? Well here you go.
You will need:
1 cup of grated or finely chopped ginger root
3 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 bottle of club soda
And some lime wedges if you want
1. Aiight, so first you’re gonna wanna make some ginger water, which is basically just a super strong ginger tea. Brings 2 cups of water to a boil and then throw in your ginger and boil that shit up and stir for like, 5 minutes. Wait for it to cool down and then strain it out and set aside the liquid.
2. Make some simple syrup. If you ever tended bar you know what to do, then again I’ve know some pretty stupid bartenders who couldn’t mix a touchdown if their life depended on it (it’s not that hard, JAKE FROM QUINN’S). Mix a cup of sugar with a cup of water and stir it up until it dissolves. That’s it.
3. Whip it up, bro! Mix 1/2 cup of your ginger water, tea, whatever with 1/3 cup of simple syrup, throw some ice down if you want and then add 1/2 cup club soda and give it a stir. Adding some lemon of lime is also pretty damn tasty too. So yeah, pretty simple and hard to fuck up, enjoy!
Precautions:
Don’t go blasting yourself with gamma rays thinking that ginger will protect you. You’d be surprised how often I have to tell people this. I know I said that the chemicals in ginger helped protect those lab mice from radiation sickness but let’s be honest here, they were probably still pretty fucked up afterwards. I mean, no matter what the outcome you know those mice just get crumbled up and tossed in the bin like an old jury summons.
KOBE!