# Ginger - Zingiber Officinale

Family:

Other names:

https://pixabay.com/photos/ginger-fresh-ginger-food-organic-5108742/

## Botany
**Family:** Zingiberaceae
**Origin:** likely native to India, no longer found in the wild; possibly among the first vegetatively cultivated plants!
Perennial with deeply branched, tuberous rhizomes
Erect stems grow to 3-4 feet (0.6-1.2m high)
The leaves are narrow, linear-lanceolate (2 to 3 cm long, 1 to 2 cm wide).
The inflorescence is a terminal spike with irregular flowers, coloured yellowish-green and streaked with purple.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger

## Growing + Harvesting

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Can be grown in a greenhouse or as a potted plant in Nova Scotia! Several farms are growing it and have it available in the later summer.
Certain times of year you can get organic in bulk, fresh, from a health food store by the pound.
Look for rhizomes that are vibrant, not shriveled or dry looking
Dry powder and root are available, make sure it’s very pungent and aromatic!

## Energetics and Actions
**Energetics:** hot and dry, more dry when root is dried.
**Primary actions:** diaphoretic, carminative, digestive stimulant, circulatory stimulant (peripheral), antispasmodic (smooth muscle), antiemetic, emmenagogue, pungent aromatic, analgesic
**Secondary actions:** antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, sialagogue, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal

Note use only 5-10% only
Use to move blood, menstrual pain, endometriosis or chronically cold digestion (bloating, nausea, bowel movement)

## Primary uses
Ginger has been valued as a spice and medicine for thousands of years. Its use is recorded in early Sanskrit and Chinese texts and is documented in ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic medical literature.
Oceanic plants growing in SE Asia: a lot of associations with sailing and being at sea (spitting at oncoming storms to halt illness

hangover
arousing sexual energies and stimulating arousal

**Digestion**: nausea from motion sickness, morning sickness, chemotherapy, post-surgery; GI upset, bloating, cramping, spasm, discomfort. Speeds up gastric motility/emptying, stimulates appetite, can be helpful in anorexia or in cases of weak digestion; diarrhea with poor assimilation and deficiency; slow digestion
antiparasitic

**Circulation:** poor circulation, cold hands and feet, Raynaud's syndrome, slightly blood thinning; stimulating blood flow (by inhibiting platetelet aggregation or clotting: hypertension, arrythmia)
bring warmth to pelvic region, endometriosis

**Generative:** menstrual cramping (dysmenorrhea), uterine pain; Menses that are slow to start, with cramps that are dull and better with heat; chronic pelvic pain, fibroids, endometriosis, heavy menstrual bleeding

**Immune:** winter colds, low grade fever - facilitates sweating, optimises fever in infections; expels mucous and eases cough (wet); fights off infection
## Secondary uses:
**Pain and inflammation:** topical as a rubefacient (wet herb in alcohol then infuse in oil on double boiler for 68 hours) for pain in deep tissues, joints, muscles, tendons; internal for arthritis, rheumatism, chronic pain characterized by cold patterns. Reduces systemic inflammation via COX and LOX inhibition, NF KappaB inhibition, TNF inhibition
**Respiratory:** cold/damp chest congestion
**Synergist/stimulant:** added to formulas to enhance the therapeutic properties and absorption of other herbs

Cautious when using as poultice as it might hurt skin which Red Peppers don't

## Key constituents
**Oleoresins:** gingerols, shogaols
**Volatile oils:** zingiberene, sesquiphellandrene and beta-bisabolene

Gingerol
https://www.axios-research.com/collections/gingerol/products/gingerol
Zingiberene
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Zingiberene

## Safety considerations
***Use caution with anticoagulant/warfarin therapy***- keep doses at less than 2g and and make sure a doctor is supervising.
Small doses safe in pregnancy (under 2g), higher doses could can have an emmenagogue effect.
Safe in lactation
Safe for kids
Careful for people who are adverse to pungents or of a very dry constitution or have dry presenting illnesses (e.g inflamed guts)

## Preparation and Dosage
**Food/Supplement**
Improves assimilation (and taste!) when used in cooking
Capsules or chews for nausea
Honey! Then the candied pieces for nausea.

**Tea**
Usually about 1 tsp of chopped fresh rhizome, simmer about 5-15 mins, up to 4 cups per day. Shorter is milder, longer is spicier.
0.5-1g daily to warm up a formula; 4-5g daily as an anti-inflammatory, or to reduce heavy uterine bleeding

**Tincture**
70% ethanol for dried root, 95% for fresh root, 1:3-1:5. Dose depends on strength. About 5-15 drops per dose. 2.5-10% of formula.
2.5-10% in a bitters or digestive formula
10% in a menstrual cramps formula to potentize the action of other antispasmodics.

**Honey**
Ginger in double boiler and hot car - handy to have on hand for nausea

"on the menu in Paradise in Quran"