Ginger (Fresh)
Ingredient Name:
Fresh Ginger
Traditional Chinese Name:
薑 (jiāng)
Oh ginger ginger! One staple ingredient in the Chinese cooking repertoire, including soups. It’s so common that I will always have ginger in my fridge. For soups, all you’ll need are a few slices depending on the soup and dish you’re making, but it’s also used to “explode” or create a fragrant oil before you stir-fry any dishes.
Fresh ginger is by nature is warm and is great in supporting the lungs, spleen, and stomach. It is the ONE BIGGEST ingredient used in confinement because of it’s warming nature and that it eliminates wind and replenishes yang in the body.
How do I prepare it?
- Fresh ginger is straightforward to prepare. Wash, with peeling option, slice, and use directly in your soup, stew, or dish.
- Some uses for fresh ginger in soups:
- Drop it directly fresh into your soup to warm it up, for example, Pig’s feet with ginger in black vinegar is one of these soups that need ginger.
- Drop it directly fresh into your soup to remove stale or fishy tastes. This is perfect for fish and seafood soups and congee.
- Use fresh ginger to pre-fry or blanch fish, meats, or seafood to eliminate the stale or fishy taste. This is a critical step in most organ meats such as pig’s lungs or stomach before you put these into your soups.
Where can I buy it and cost?
- You can buy this in any supermarket
- They usually come as a full root in different sizes, so pick the size you feel you’ll need
- Ginger stores well in the fridge for at least 2 weeks. Depending on humidity of your environment, I find if it does go back, it will start with the ends, which will either rot or dry. Just cut this off and check that the rest is in good condition.
What is the cost?
There is a range of cost for ginger depending on whether it’s organic, imported, or a variant of your staple ginger root.
Any benefits?
- By ingesting garlic, it stimulates the saliva glands, which makes swallowing easier
- It is also found to be effective in treating nausea
- Many cultures use ginger in a variety of ways to help with flu prevention or fighting the common cold
- For the Chinese, ginger is the primary ingredient used in confinement (postpartum) remedy
Any precautions?
- Too much ginger can cause heartburn, bloating, gas and nausea, therefore for individuals who have sensitive stomachs, be weary of your consumption
- Ginger is known to be a “heaty” food, if a person is too “heaty” or has too much yang, you can avoid this food until your body is rebalanced
Looking to build your basic Chinese Soup Pantry?
Check out this video to begin building your soup pantry. There are 7 basic dried ingredients to get you started.
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