- Region
- Asia
- Origin
- South and Southeast Asia
- Sanskrit
- Ardhrakam
Asia · Herb · № 1
Zingiber officinale
Herb · Asia
Ginger
Zingiber officinale
Traditionally used for nausea and digestive discomfort; it has a warming flavor.
Safety notes
Supplements may cause stomach discomfort and interact with medicines. Ask a health professional before supplement use during pregnancy.
Cautions by tradition (5)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Not too much with stomach ulcers.
- Herbs for viral infections: Not with warfarin, diabetes or heart medication, or aspirin.
- Natural skin and hair care: Do not give honey to children under one year old. Test the temperature of the foot bath.
- Western herbs in Chinese medicine: Caution with heat complaints and in large amounts with blood thinners.
- Chinese materia medica: Not with heat or yin deficiency with heat; dried ginger with caution during pregnancy. In case of poisoning always seek medical help.
Preparation
Commonly brewed as tea or added fresh or ground to soups and meals.
Use in traditions
Used as food and in varied Asian traditional practices; uses differ by community and preparation.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Promotes circulation, vasodilating, induces sweating, expectorant, anti-emetic, antispasmodic, carminative, antiseptic; externally skin-stimulating.
Preparation and amount
Decoction of 1–2 slices of fresh root per mug (10 min) for chills and colds, optionally with cinnamon; tincture 2–10 drops for poor circulation, chilblains, wind and nausea; 1–2 capsules of 200 mg before travelling against travel sickness; up to 1 g for pregnancy nausea; massage oil.
Caution: Not too much with stomach ulcers.
Ayurvedic materia medica
Attributed effects
Aromatic, carminative, stomachic, promotes saliva, aids digestion; externally skin-stimulating; for indigestion, wind, colic, vomiting, stomach cramps, colds, cough, asthma; paste for headache and toothache; gout and chronic rheumatism.
Preparation and amount
Tea 7–20 ml (for indigestion 28–56 ml every hour); dried ginger powder 1–2 g; paste externally.
Herbs for viral infections
Attributed effects
Protects healthy cells and inhibits the multiplication of viruses; especially against flu; further for digestive complaints, colds, travel sickness, nausea, arthritis, inflammation, high blood pressure.
Preparation and amount
Capsules or tablets 250 mg 4 times a day; tea of 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger with boiling water; or in food and drinks.
Caution: Not with warfarin, diabetes or heart medication, or aspirin.
Everyday Ayurveda
Attributed effects
'great medicine': warming, stimulates appetite and digestion, improves bowel movements; dry ginger against colds, asthma, sore throat, runny nose and diarrhoea; prevents respiratory complaints and allergies; helps with weight loss.
Preparation and amount
Freshly grated in dishes, takra and chutney; a pinch of rock salt on fresh ginger before meals; dried ginger as a paste with water on the nose and under the eyes for colds; a pinch of dry ginger in warm water for diarrhoea; in spiced milk.
Natural skin and hair care
Attributed effects
Warming and stimulating; as a tea traditionally used for colds and nausea.
Preparation and amount
Internal: fresh or dried ginger in a herbal honey for colds. External: ginger in a footbath and ginger oil in a balm (see the recipes).
Caution: Do not give honey to children under one year old. Test the temperature of the foot bath.
Western herbs in Chinese medicine
Attributed effects
Warm and pungent: expels external cold (fresh) or warms the middle (dried). Ginger, with cinnamon and cardamom, was among the first herbs traded between Asia and Europe.
Preparation and amount
Fresh ginger (sheng jiang) works more outwards and goes into a sweating tea for chills (1–3 parts fresh to equal parts elderflower, yarrow and peppermint). Dried ginger (gan jiang) warms more from within; a tincture of fresh ginger therefore works differently from one of dried. Roasted fresh ginger (wei sheng jiang) is mildly warm, for abdominal pain from cold. In Chinese processing, ginger juice is used to strengthen the anti-nausea action of other herbs, and fresh ginger tempers the toxicity of raw ban xia. In Chinese cooking ginger, like garlic and spring onion, is in almost every dish.
Caution: Caution with heat complaints and in large amounts with blood thinners.
Chinese materia medica
- Nature and taste
- pungent, warm (fresh); pungent, hot (dried)
- Meridians
- lung, stomach, spleen (fresh); heart, lung, spleen, stomach (dried)
Attributed effects
Fresh ginger (sheng jiang) opens the surface at the start of a cold, warms the stomach, curbs nausea and morning sickness and is traditionally used for poisoning by fish and shellfish. Dried ginger (gan jiang) warms from within: for cold in spleen and stomach with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, for cold, white phlegm in the lungs and for a collapse of yang.
Preparation and amount
Traditional dosage: 3–9 g a day, usually in a decoction. A few slices of fresh ginger make food and milk easier to digest. Fresh ginger tea with honey helps with the first phlegm of a cold; a warm ginger compress relieves muscle cramp and sprains externally.
Combinations
- Fresh with ban xia for vomiting from a cold stomach
- Fresh with bamboo shavings and huang lian for vomiting from heat
- Dried with ma huang, xi xin and ban xia for cold phlegm in the lungs
Caution: Not with heat or yin deficiency with heat; dried ginger with caution during pregnancy. In case of poisoning always seek medical help.
Folklore and herbal magic
Symbolic meanings from folk use and modern herbal magic. These are handed-down associations, not effects.
Great successes, makes magic more effective, protection, attracts love, purifies as incense, strengthening power, love, finances, success, healing, money, energy.
Herbal magic and rituals
Attributed effects
In herbal magic associated with strength, success, love and speeding things up.
Preparation and amount
Ginger comes from tropical Asia and is one of the oldest spices in Chinese and Indian medicine; Ayurveda calls it vishvabhesaj, 'universal medicine'. Confucius is said never to have eaten a meal without ginger. In Europe gingerbread became a medieval treat at fairs.
Home, kitchen and folk use
Attributed effects
Against colds, settles the stomach, suppresses nausea.
Preparation and amount
As a power booster in rituals and spells; cold tea; health oil; winter bath; spice sugar.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)DecoctionTinctureHerbal oil (oil infusion)Salve and balmCompress, poultice and pasteSyrup, honey and oxymelSteam and bathPowder and kitchen
- Recipes
- Sweating tea with elder, yarrow and mintWatercress and spare rib soup with dried figsFish soup with papaya and tofuChicken stewed with Job's tearsSteamed black chicken with jujubes and longanBissap, cold hibiscus drinkHaldi doodh, warm turmeric milkSaenggang-cha, Korean ginger teaDaechu-cha, jujube teaBeras kencurSorrel, Caribbean Christmas drinkHerbal honey for colds and fluRefreshing foot bathCoconut balm
- Formulas
- Ba zhen tangBan xia hou po tangBan xia xie xin tangChai hu gui zhi gan jiang tangChai hu gui zhi tangChai hu jia long gu mu li tangDa chai hu tangDing xiang shi di tangEr chen tangFang feng tong sheng sanFang ji huang qi tangGe gen tangGui pi tangGui zhi long gu mu li tangGui zhi shao yao zhi mu tangGui zhi tangHuo xiang zheng qi sanJing fang bai du sanJuan bi tangLi zhong wanPing wei sanShi di tangShi wei bai du tangShu jing huo xue tangSi ni tangWei ling tangWen jing tangWen pi tangWu mei wanWu pi yinWu yao shun qi sanWu zhu yu tangXiao ban xia jia fu ling tangXiao chai hu tangXiao jian zhong tangXiao qing long tangXiao yao sanXing su sanXuan fu dai zhe tangZhen wu tangZhi gan cao tang
Tags
Sources
- www.nccih.nih.gov
- Michael & Lesley Tierra, Chinese Traditional Herbal Medicine, vol. II: Materia Medica and Herbal Resource (1998)
- Owen Jackson, Chinese Herbal Medicine (2020)
- Penelope Ody, The Complete Medicinal Herbal (1993; 2017)
- L. D. Kapoor, CRC Handbook of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants (1990)
- Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman & Susan Gregg, Herbal Remedies Made Simple (2018)