Ginger is a flowering plant with fat nodular roots. It is these roots that we traditionally know as ginger. Whilst ginger can be bought crystalised, dried or as an essential oil, we always use the fresh root. I keep it in the fridge and snap off a piece to use as and when I need it.
Nutritional Contents of Ginger
100 grams of fresh ginger contains:
80 calories/ 17.8 g carbohydrates/ 1.8 g protein
0.7 g fat/ 2 g fibre/ 415 mg potassium/
0.2 mg copper/ 0.2 mg manganese/
43 mg magnesium/ 5 mg vit C/ 0.2 mg vit B6/
0.7 mg niacin/ 34 mg phosphorus/ 0.6 mg iron
It also contains varying amounts of the following anti-inflammatory compounds:
gingerol, shogaol, paradol and zingerone.
Health Benefits of Ginger
Ginger helps with nausea; fungal infections; stomach ulcers; menstrual pain; cancer; blood sugar; joint and muscle pain; cholesterol; digestion; mental alertness; inflammation and bacterial infections
I use it almost daily; I love the tangy zinginess it has. About five times a week I drink a huge glass full of freshly pressed juices. I juice as an occasional meal replacement, but mainly my goal is the inclusion of curly kale in my diet. I hate curly kale, but it’s health benefits outweigh any aversion I might have to its rather bitter taste. So I include about five handfuls of it in a juice with carrot, celery, apple and pineapple….and about an inch or so of fresh ginger. It peps up the flavour of these combined juices and (so long as I don’t look at its lurid green colour) makes me completely oblivious to the addition of curly kale.
I also use it grated with lemon juice, avocado oil and raw honey as a dressing over my rice and pasta salads. So yummy scrum!
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I am really loving this series!
I really should add ginger into our food more often, but it has such a strong flavor it can overwhelm the other ingredients.