Root ginger is one of the world’s most cultivated spices and although popularly used in cooking and food, gingerbread, ginger ale, ginger beer and even ginger tea, historically it has long been known for its strong medicinal value. 

Zingiber officinale, is ginger’s botanical name, which means “shaped like a thorn”. The strange looking ginger root is called a rhizome.

Root ginger belongs to the family Zingiberaceae along with many other plants including tumeric, another common spice used in curries. 

In ancient India, the name for ginger was translated as “universal medicine”.  Root ginger has been studied for thousands of years in Asia for its medicinal properties. Ginger is known to help digestive problems, relieve colds, reduce fevers, treat nausea, improve circulation, help rheumatism and menstrual problems.

So next time you are cooking and want to spice up your food with an interesting ingredient, consider ginger. Or when you are munching on gingerbread, gulping down ginger beer or ginger ale, realise what can ginger cure?

Ginger can even fight parasites in raw fish, thats why it is served with sushi!  1200 years ago, Chinese sailors used ginger to fight off scurvy, a vitamin C deficiency – long before more modern day sailors discovered the use of limes to fight scurvy.