Ginger
I love ginger’s spicy zestiness and can’t stop grating it into everything, from hot beverages to soups, salads, and marinades, and even add its oil to my homemade body butter. Perhaps it’s because ginger has so many health benefits.
Kitchen Creativity
Ginger has a hot-spice, citrusy, woody taste. The dried spice has a more robust, aromatic flavor than fresh ginger and is commonly used in baking and spice blends. Fresh ginger is most widely used in Asian cuisine.
Releasing the Flavors
Peeling the ginger bursts open the outer layer of cells, allowing fragrant oils to evaporate. Cooking converts the ginger’s mouth-watering flavor compounds into a much milder zingerone.
Suggested Uses
Baking - Add ground ginger to carrot cake, lemon cake, and coconut or dark chocolate cookies.
Pork - Add slices of fresh ginger to slow-cooked pork dishes to offset the fattiness.
Fish - When steaming fish, use julienned ginger with shredded leek or spring onions.
Squash & coleslaw -Mix grated fresh ginger into Asian-style coleslaw, or fry with the onion base of a squash soup.
Mango, pears, rhubarb - Pair with mango in puddings, and poach with fresh slices with pears and rhubarb.
Health Benefits
A compound found in ginger called gingerol has potent medicinal properties. Ginger is anti-inflammatory. Ginger aids digestion, stimulates circulation, and is helpful if you experience stomach discomfort, nausea, chills, and colds.
Fun Fact
Ginger is an underground stem called a rhizome, not a root.
