Ginger

“Ginger (Zingiber officinale). A kitchen root, popular in Portland and Kingston, standardised by the SRC. Grated or sliced into hot water when a cold is coming on, the way any Jamaican kitchen does it.”

“Women's health. Ginger for menstrual cramps, search-mi-heart for cramps (tradition, from secondary sources), vervain for menstrual complaints (abortive), dog blood bush for fertility (tradition). Pregnancy: TRAMIL rules out cerasee, guinea hen weed and leaf of life in pregnancy and breastfeeding and has no data for fever grass. Also out: vervain, aloe by mouth, sarsaparilla, moringa root, turmeric supplements, garlic and Ceylon cinnamon beyond food amounts. Ginger for morning sickness and castor oil for labour belong with the midwife.”

“Shokyo, ginger (Zingiber officinale), 15, and kankyo, steamed dried ginger, 4, the warming form in Daikenchuto, Ninjinto, Hangeshashinto.”

“Cold, first chills. Shoga-yu (grated ginger in hot water): the warming drink, its gingerol and shogaol shared with Kampo formulas. Negi (green onion) roasted and wrapped round the neck, or negi soup: the old way. Tamago-zake (egg in hot sake): warming but alcohol, never for children, not in pregnancy, not with medicines. Kuzu-yu (kuzu starch stirred into hot water until thick): starch, not the Kampo root kakkon, comfort through warmth and easy digestion. The Kampo formula Kakkonto is the household name for a cold in Japan, but its ephedra is banned in EU foods: a Kampo skill set topic.”

“Beschuit, small sips, gemberthee. A dry beschuit, sips of water, a slice of gember in hot water. Ginger capsules are not ginger tea: on a Dutch blood thinner there is a published case of over-anticoagulation on fenprocoumon, so capsules are an apotheek question.”

“Ginger and scallion soup (葱白生姜汤, cōng bái shēng jiāng tāng). The first thing many Chinese families make at the first chill. Ginger and the white of the spring onion are both pungent and warming, the flavour the old order pairs with the lung.”

“Ginger brown sugar tea (红糖姜茶, hóng táng jiāng chá). Warming ginger with sweet brown sugar, the classic home drink for cramps, from the same warming logic as the confinement kitchen.”

“The kitchen. Garm foods from the household lists: ginger, cinnamon (Ceylon for daily use), dates, walnuts and other nuts, onions, garlic, dill, lentils, saffron in the rice, warm stews and soups, poultry and lamb in a khoresh. Cooked and warm rather than raw and iced. A warm companion beside every sard dish: dill with the broad beans, garlic and herbs with the fish, a garm dessert after a cold meal. Tea warm, allowed to cool a little.”

“The spoon after the meal. One Iranian writer tells how her grandfather took a spoonful of bitter orange peel and ginger after most meals, because he considered most food cold. Farzana tells this as someone else's grandfather, with a smile: "Every family has an uncle like that."”