Herbal For November’s Herb of the Month, we wanted to focus on something that was a little warming and cozy, as well as medicinal. For thousands of years, ginger, a warm and pungent root often associated with winter holiday baking, has been used for its medicinal benefits. Most of its medicinal properties that have been studied thus far appear to be due to special ketones known as gingerols. These gingerols are responsible for ginger’s spicy aroma and flavor. In fact, ginger, with all its spicy components, is actually closely related to turmeric and cardamom. Likewise, it has been cultivated as a medicinal root and a flavoring agent for an estimated five thousand years.

Common name: Ginger

Latin name: Zingiber officinale

Part Used: Root (rhizome)

Benefits: Nausea, vomiting, pain relief, anti-inflammatory, cholesterol-lowering, carminative (helps with digestion), immune-boosting, blood sugar regulating, and anti-microbial

Taste: Warm, pungent, spicy

Energetics: Pungent, sweet, warming

History

About two thousand years ago, ginger became a highly coveted trade commodity between India and the Roman Empire, with the Roman Empire taking a special interest in it for its medicinal properties. Throughout the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, Ginger stayed increasingly important. At one point, around the 14th Century, a pound of ginger cost around the same as one sheep. Fun medieval fact: Queen Elizabeth I is actually credited with the creation of the first gingerbread man!

Benefits

Antioxidants

Ginger is full of antioxidants! These antioxidants have tumor-fighting properties and anti-inflammatory effects.1 Antioxidants help the body by mitigating the effects of free radicals and oxidative stress. Free radicals are unstable molecules that can damage cells if their numbers increase too much. So, the antioxidants in ginger, in effect, work to ward off chronic diseases. 

Nausea

Throughout history and modern times, ginger has been used to remedy sea sickness and morning sickness. Many studies have shown that ginger is effective at decreasing symptoms of nausea in pregnant women and chemotherapy patients with minimal side effects. This is in part due to active compounds within ginger called gingerols.2 

Eases Menstrual Pain

Studies show that supplementing with therapeutic doses of ginger can significantly reduce menstrual pain, both in intensity and duration.3 

Blood Sugar Regulating

According to studies, ginger may be effective at improving lipid profiles as well as glucose control and insulin sensitivity. It’s also been found to reduce fasting blood sugar by 12% with improved long-term blood sugar control by 10%.4 

Emotional Component

Chronic pain and discomfort are often rooted in psychological factors. For example, repressed anger, heavy emotions, anxiety, and frustration often cause muscle tension and pain. Ginger can help our muscles let go of repressed emotions and help us explore the dark or hidden areas of our emotional work. As an emotional aid, ginger emboldens our healing stamina while supporting us in letting go of emotional burdens.  

Medicinal Herbs: Ginger Recipes

Gingerbread Cookies by Cookie and Kate

Ingredients

• 3 cups (310 grams) whole wheat pastry flour, plus more for work surface
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup melted coconut oil

• ½ cup unsulphured molasses (use regular molasses for lighter, somewhat spicy cookies or blackstrap molasses for very spicy, intensely flavored cookies—or a mixture of both)
• ½ cup packed coconut sugar
• 1 large egg
• Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
• Lemon icing (optional)
• ½ cup powdered sugar (here’s how to make your own)
• ¼ teaspoon lemon zest (optional for intense lemon flavor)
• 2 ¼ teaspoons lemon juice

Instructions

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, pepper, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk until blended.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil and molasses and whisk until combined. Add the coconut sugar and whisk until blended. (If the sugar is gloppy and won’t incorporate into the mixture, warm the mixture for about 20 seconds in the microwave or over low heat on the stove, just until you can whisk it all together.) Add the egg and whisk until the mixture is thoroughly blended.
• Pour the liquid mixture into the dry and mix just until combined. (If it seems like you don’t have enough liquid, just keep mixing!) Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a round disc about 1 inch thick and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place both discs in the refrigerator and chill until cold—about 1 hour or up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in the middle and upper third of the oven. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour your working surface and roll out one of your discs out until it’s ¼ inch thick. If the dough is very hard or crumbly, just roll it as best you can and then let it rest for a few minutes to warm up. Repeat until you’ve successfully rolled the dough to ¼ inch thickness.
• Use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes and place each cookie on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about ½ inch of space around each one (this dough just barely expands during baking). Combine your dough scraps into a ball and roll them out again, repeating until you have used up all of your dough. Repeat with remaining disc. (If you’d like to decorate the cookies with granulated sugar like turbinado or extra coconut sugar, sprinkle it onto the cookies now.)
• Place baking sheets in the oven, one on the middle rack and one on the upper. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes; for softer cookies, pull them out around 8 minutes and for more crisp cookies, bake for up to 11 minutes. The cookies will further crisp as they cool. Place the baking sheets on cooling racks to cool.
• If you’d like to ice the cookies and/or sprinkle them with powdered sugar, wait until they have completely cooled to do so. To make the icing, in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, optional lemon zest, and lemon juice. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Transfer the icing into a small Ziploc bag, squeeze out any excess air and seal the bag. Cut off a tiny piece of one of the lower corners and squeeze icing through the hole to decorate the cookies as desired. The frosting will harden eventually, but it won’t ever be as indestructible as royal icing.
• If you’d like to sift powdered sugar over the cookies, do it now. Wait until the icing has firmed up (about 1 hour) before carefully stacking the cookies in a storage container. Cookies will keep for up to 1 week at room temperature.

Medicinal Herbs: Shiitake Ginger Broth by Mountain Rose Herbs

Ingredients

• 2 cups organic dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp organic shiitake mushroom powder
• 1 tsp organic garlic granules
• 1 1/2 tsp organic onion powder
• 1 tsp soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tsp Kiawe Smoked Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp organic Ginger Root powder
• 5 cups vegetable stock, water, or a combination of stock and water + 4 Tablespoons water

Instructions

• Mix together shiitake mushroom powder, garlic granules, and onion powder in a small bowl.
• Stir 4 Tablespoons water into the powders and stir to make a paste.
• In a medium saucepan on medium heat, scoop in paste and gently whisk with 5 cups stock until smooth and well combined.
• Add soy sauce and salt, and bring to a simmer. Drop in dried shiitake mushrooms and allow to simmer for 30 minutes or more.
• Remove the shiitakes.
• Whisk in 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder. If you like it extra zippy, you can add in a little more. 
• Ladle into bowls or mugs and garnish with fresh green onion or chives.

Ginger Cranberry Shrub Cocktail by Mountain Rose Herbs

Spiced cranberry shrub syrup is deliciously mixed with sparkling water. When combined with organic ginger syrup and your favorite botanical gin, it is an elevated cocktail with perhaps a few medicinal benefits. Leave out the gin for a fizzy mocktail.

Ingredients

• 1 oz. organic ginger syrup
• 1 oz. gin (optional)
• 2 oz. cranberry shrub
• Cracked organic black pepper
• Sparkling water

Instructions

• In a highball glass, mix ginger syrup, gin (if using), and shrub.
• Add ice.
• Top with sparkling water.
• Stir gently to combine.
• Garnish with a sprinkle of cracked black pepper.
• Store your shrub in the refrigerator, when tightly sealed it can last for several months. If you see any signs of fermentation such as bubbling, cloudiness, or mold, discard the shrub immediately.

Have you read about our other Herbs of the Month? If not, click below to read about:

Echinacea: The Herb of Strength and Health

Goldenrod: The Healing Herold of Autumn

Agrimony: The Herb of Gratitude 

Works Cited

1. Yogeshwer Shukla, Madhulika Singh, Cancer preventive properties of ginger: A brief review, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 45, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 683-690, ISSN 0278-6915, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2006.11.002.
2. Viljoen E, Visser J, Koen N, Musekiwa A. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect and safety of ginger in the treatment of pregnancy-associated nausea and vomiting. Nutr J. 2014;13:20. Published 2014 Mar 19. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-20
3. Rahnama P, Montazeri A, Huseini HF, Kianbakht S, Naseri M. Effect of Zingiber officinale R. rhizomes (ginger) on pain relief in primary dysmenorrhea: a placebo randomized trial. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012;12:92. Published 2012 Jul 10. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-92
4. Khandouzi N, Shidfar F, Rajab A, Rahideh T, Hosseini P, Mir Taheri M. The effects of ginger on fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin a1c, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein a-I and malondialdehyde in type 2 diabetic patients. Iran J Pharm Res. 2015;14(1):131-140.