What Are the Benefits of Ginger?
A grounded look at ginger, the warming root prized across African and Caribbean kitchens, the reputed benefits people value it for, and where to buy it in the UK.
African Stores Editorial Team
The short answer
Ginger is a warming, peppery root used across African and Caribbean cooking and drinks, long valued in tradition as a settling, warming ingredient, for example for the stomach. Many of these benefits are popular lore rather than proven fact, so enjoy it as food, not medicine. Find fresh ginger at African and Caribbean shops on African Stores.
What to remember
- Ginger is the spicy, aromatic root of the ginger plant, a staple in African, Caribbean and Asian cooking.
- In tradition it is valued as a warming, settling ingredient, often taken for the stomach or as a soothing drink, though these uses are popular lore rather than proven medical fact.
- It is enjoyed grated into cooking, brewed as tea, blended into ginger juice and used in bakes and sweets.
- It is a food and flavouring, not a medicine, and it is no substitute for advice or treatment from a doctor or pharmacist.
- Fresh ginger root is cheap and easy to find at African and Caribbean food shops across the UK.
The sharp, warming smell of ginger being grated into a hot pot is one that many people know from childhood, a grandmother's kitchen, a pot of stew on the stove, a cup of ginger tea pressed into your hands when you felt poorly. It is a smell that means care as much as flavour, woven into the everyday cooking of African, Caribbean and many other homes.
That is the real gift of ginger, the way a simple, cheap root ties together food, comfort and memory. Keeping a piece in the kitchen, grating it into your cooking or brewing it into a warming drink, is a small way of carrying those kitchens with you. Enjoyed as food and flavour, and never mistaken for medicine, ginger is one of the friendliest, most familiar tastes of home.
What Ginger Actually Is
Ginger is the knobbly underground stem, or rhizome, of the ginger plant, a tropical relative of turmeric and cardamom. Beneath its thin beige skin sits pale, fibrous flesh with a sharp, warming, peppery bite and an unmistakable fragrance, and it is used both fresh and dried and ground into powder. Ginger has been prized for thousands of years across Asia, Africa and, later, the Caribbean, valued as much for the warmth and depth it brings to food and drink as for its long standing place in traditional home remedies.
In African and Caribbean kitchens ginger is everywhere. It goes into stews, marinades, rice and sauces, it is brewed into teas and blended into the fiery cooler that is ginger juice, and it flavours cakes, biscuits and sweets. This article is a plain, honest guide to the root and the benefits people traditionally value it for. Ginger is a food and a flavouring, not a medicine, so the aim here is to enjoy it as part of good cooking rather than to make health claims about it.
The Reputed Benefits of Ginger
Ginger carries a long and well loved reputation in traditional and home remedy use, and it is worth being clear and honest about what that means. Most famously, ginger has been used for generations as a settling ingredient for the stomach, which is why so many people reach for ginger tea or a piece of crystallised ginger when they feel queasy or travel sick. It is also valued as a warming ingredient, the kind of thing taken as a hot drink when someone feels a chill or under the weather, and as a soothing sip for a sore or scratchy throat, often with honey and lemon.
These are the benefits people most associate with ginger, but they belong to popular lore and long tradition rather than to proven medical fact, and where research exists it is often limited or mixed. Ginger is not a treatment or a cure, and it should never replace proper medical advice or medicine. If you are unwell, pregnant, taking medication or thinking of using ginger in large amounts or as a supplement rather than simply as food, it is worth speaking to a pharmacist or doctor first, since even a familiar kitchen root can interact with some conditions and medicines. Enjoyed as an ordinary part of cooking and the odd comforting cup of tea, though, ginger is simply a well loved, warming ingredient.
How to Use Ginger in Cooking and Drinks
The best way to enjoy ginger is in the kitchen, where it earns its keep many times over. Fresh ginger is peeled and then grated, crushed or finely chopped, and it forms the backbone of countless savoury dishes, from Nigerian stews and jollof to Caribbean curries, jerk marinades and seasoning blends, usually alongside garlic, onion and scotch bonnet. Its warmth balances rich, meaty and spicy food beautifully.
As a drink it really shines. Fresh ginger simmered or blended with water makes ginger tea and the punchy, spicy ginger juice loved across West Africa and the Caribbean, sweetened to taste and often brightened with lime or pineapple. Ginger also brings warmth to baking and sweets, in ginger cake, biscuits and puddings, and dried ground ginger is a storecupboard staple for exactly this. A little goes a long way, because fresh ginger is strong, so it is easy to start small and add more to taste. However you use it, treat it as the flavourful, warming ingredient it is, and let any comfort it brings be a happy bonus rather than the reason you reach for it.
Where to Buy Ginger in the UK
Ginger is one of the easiest ingredients to find, and African and Caribbean food shops are among the best places to buy it. There it is usually sold loose and fresh, often in larger, fatter, better value pieces than the small knobs found at a supermarket, so you can pick out plump, firm roots with smooth, taut skin. The same shops stock dried ground ginger, and the limes, pineapple, scotch bonnet and spices that so often go with it in cooking and drinks.
If you want good, fresh ginger with plenty of flavour, an African or Caribbean grocer is the natural place to start. You can find African and Caribbean food stores near you that stock fresh ginger and everything to go with it in your area. Whether you are building a stew, brewing a soothing cup of tea or blending a jug of ginger juice, a good piece of ginger is cheap, easy to find and endlessly useful.
Frequently asked questions
What is ginger good for?
In tradition and home remedy use, ginger is most valued as a warming, settling ingredient, often taken as a tea or a piece of crystallised ginger for a queasy or travel sick stomach, as a warming drink when feeling under the weather, or as a soothing sip for a sore throat with honey and lemon. These are popular, long standing uses rather than proven medical facts, and ginger is a food and flavouring, not a medicine or a cure.
Is ginger actually healthy or is that just tradition?
Ginger is a wholesome, natural ingredient that adds a lot of flavour with little else, and it has a long tradition as a warming, settling food. However, the specific health benefits people attach to it are mostly popular lore, and where research exists it is often limited or mixed, so it is best not to treat ginger as a proven remedy. Enjoy it as part of good cooking and the odd comforting cup, and see a doctor or pharmacist for anything health related.
How do you use ginger?
Fresh ginger is peeled, then grated, crushed or finely chopped into savoury dishes such as stews, curries, jollof, marinades and seasoning blends, usually with garlic, onion and chilli. It is also simmered or blended with water for ginger tea and spicy ginger juice, and used in cakes, biscuits and puddings, with dried ground ginger a handy storecupboard version. Fresh ginger is strong, so start small and add more to taste.
Can everyone use ginger freely?
As an ordinary ingredient in cooking and drinks, ginger suits most people. But if you are pregnant, taking medication, living with a health condition, or thinking of using ginger in large amounts or as a supplement rather than simply as food, it is worth checking with a pharmacist or doctor first, as even a familiar root can interact with some medicines and conditions. This is general information, not medical advice.
Where can I buy ginger in the UK?
Fresh ginger root is sold loose at African and Caribbean food shops across the UK, often in larger, fresher and better value pieces than at a supermarket, along with dried ground ginger and the limes, pineapple and spices that go with it. African Stores lists African and Caribbean food shops across the UK, so you can find one near you that stocks fresh ginger.
