Alexander the Great brought it from the Far East to the Mediterranean. Since then he has entered our kitchens. Its medicinal virtuesAlexander the Great brought it from the Far East to the Mediterranean. Since then he has entered our kitchens. The medicinal virtues of him help against nausea, vomiting and poor digestion. But it is not a panacea that is good for everyone.
beautiful gum galls.” One might not recognize it, since the poet, as we have just seen, calls it gengiovo. But it is not poetic license: gengiovo was the name of ginger at that time and, in general, in ancient times. The history of the name of this spice over time and around the world is as fascinating as discovering its merits. The botanical name of ginger is Zingiber officinale: it is a herbaceous plant originally from the Far East but now very familiar to us too. It belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, genus Zingiber, species, precisely, Zingiber officinale. Officinal because ginger is a plant used not to feed, but to heal. The original name, singivera, belongs to the Middle Indian language, now extinct. At a certain point, the plant arrived in the Mediterranean with the soldiers of Alexander the Great, returning from the Asian military campaigns, and with it came the original name that each territory remodeled in its own way. For example, in French it is gingembre, in English ginger, in Dutch gember, in Romanian ghimbir, in Spanish jengibre. In current Italian ginger, with dialectal variations always relevant to the original name, such as the Friulian zenzevar, the Sardinian zìnzalu, the Sicilian gènciru, the Venetian xènxaro (or denèver).
Moving from the name to the thing that the name denotes, we see that the ginger plant is composed of a beautiful plump and lumpy root on which, above the level of the earth in which the root is buried, stems with lanceolate leaves and small yellowish-greenish flowers stand out which then evolve into fruits. Each fruit is a capsule divided into three lodges, but ginger flowers are unknown: we only use the root. The root, also called rhizome, contains the active ingredients that we exploit for our health and which are also responsible for the strong, almost spicy flavor of our ginger: active ingredients such as gingerols, then derivatives of gingerols such as zingerone and shogaoli and the volatile elements of the essential oil i.e. sesquiterpenes, such as zingiberene and B-bisabolene, and other monoterpenes. The fresh root must be peeled and the remaining pulp cut into small pieces as is done with garlic cloves. Or cut into thin slices. Another form, in addition to these, in which you may find ginger, is the powder, which is made by drying and then pulverizing the root. In both cases, we use ginger as a flavoring or as a spice, it is clearly not the case to consume ginger roots in bites as if they were asparagus. Ginger – be careful – is not a side vegetable, but an addition to dishes, something extra to be consumed in just more abundant grams of a spice, if fresh, just as if it were garlic (not even onion, which is used in much larger quantities than garlic). A slightly larger quantity is possible if you consume candied ginger, i.e. cooked in water and sugar syrup, but we are always talking about a few grams more. Ginger, in fact, is a plant with medicinal properties.
First of all, ginger helps against nausea and vomiting, of various origins, from that caused by movement, for example if you are one of those who suffer from car or seasickness, or nausea from pregnancy (read more forward regarding use during pregnancy) through nausea and vomiting due to gastrointestinal viruses. In addition to its anti-nausea and anti-emetic properties, i.e. anti-vomiting, ginger is a stomachic, meaning it helps and improves digestion, both in cases in which one has actually eaten too much and in those in which one suffers from mild pathologies that make even the digestion of meals difficult. simple. When you have non-structural but occasional intestinal problems, due for example to an excessive meal, such as reflux or meteorism, even simply caused by having eaten an abundance of legumes, a ginger herbal tea can help. Ginger is also recognized as having anti-inflammatory properties and for this reason even simply sipping a ginger herbal tea helps in case of sore throats and colds. Ginger is also an antioxidant, a bit like lemon, and therefore it is attributed with preservative properties: if you don’t have lemon at home, on fresh fruit salad, this can be solved by accessing the spice drawer and sprinkling a small amount of powdered ginger. Even in case of diarrhea, if you don’t have lemon at home you can use a ginger herbal tea. Even slightly antipyretic and pain-relieving, ginger can be used – of course, as a mild remedy, not like a medicine – in case of various pains, from headaches to arthritis and arthrosis, as well as as a remedy for stomach ache. .
However, let’s not think of ginger as a panacea that is good for everything and everyone: although it is considered generally safe, it is not recommended for those suffering from gallstones because it stimulates the release of bile from the gallbladder. For this same reason it is considered antihypercholesterolemic. Even those suffering from diabetes must take it carefully, because having the effect of slightly lowering blood sugar levels it can interfere with anti-diabetic drug therapy. Even if you are pregnant and breastfeeding, it is better to ask your doctor if you can take ginger as a natural remedy in case, for example, of nausea. However, an excess of ginger is absolutely not recommended for everyone, because it can cause not gastric and intestinal relief, but on the contrary, irritation.
For all these properties, for its pungent and slightly spicy aroma and for its ability to be used in microdoses to connote a different taste, we find ginger in many recipes all over the world. You eat or suck a piece of it after raw fish in sashimi and sushi at a Japanese restaurant, to degrease your mouth and “disinfect”. It is used to flavor chicken, precisely, with ginger, in China. It is used to flavor liqueurs and soft and alcoholic drinks: ginger beer is a fermented drink that exists in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions and is also used for the preparation of the Moscow Mule cocktail, ginger ale is not alcoholic, nor fermented. Ginger is also used in desserts: gingerbread is a particular dough with which biscuits are prepared, but also the parts of the gingerbread house in Northern European countries during the Christmas period and now here too. In the French pain d’epices, which in English translates as gingerbread and in Italy as spiced pan, there is a lot of honey but also spices, including ginger (think that in Gertwiller, in Alsace, there is the Pain d’epices Museum and of Alsatian Popular Art). There is ginger in our gingerbread and there is a version of Modica chocolate with ginger. Some of us also prepare spaghetti with garlic, oil and ginger or ginger, oil and chilli, zinging one of our simplest and most representative first courses.
