Organic ground ginger, 200 g, from Dragon Superfoods — dried and milled rhizome, warming, peppery and citrus-edged.
Dried ginger is not fresh ginger, and the difference is chemistry rather than convenience. Fresh ginger's bright, sharp heat comes from gingerol. Drying dehydrates gingerol into shogaol, a related compound that is noticeably hotter and less bright, with more depth and less lift. Cooking does something similar, converting gingerol into zingerone, which is milder and sweeter — which is why long-simmered ginger tastes gentle while raw ginger bites.
The practical consequence: dried and fresh ginger are not substitutes for one another. Dried is what you want in baking, in spice blends, in dry rubs and in anything where you need ginger without adding moisture. Fresh is what you want in a stir-fry, a curry paste or a dressing, where the sharp top note is the point. Swapping one for the other produces something recognisably wrong in both directions, and it is the commonest reason a ginger recipe disappoints.
Where it earns its place in a cupboard: gingerbread, biscuits, cakes and spiced buns; pumpkin and squash soups; carrot dishes; masala chai; dry rubs for meat and roast vegetables; and any spice blend from garam masala to Moroccan ras el hanout. It is also the more practical form for a hot drink — a teaspoon in hot water with lemon and honey, no grating required.
On the health claims, since they are attached to ginger more than almost any other spice: the evidence is genuinely good for one thing, nausea. The European Medicines Agency recognises ginger root for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in motion sickness under “well-established use”, which requires clinical evidence rather than tradition alone, and there is reasonable trial data for pregnancy and post-operative nausea too. Beyond nausea, claims about inflammation, digestion, immunity and weight are much less well supported, and the EU authorises no health claims for it. A culinary spice is a fine thing to be.
Cautions: ginger can inhibit platelet aggregation, so ask a doctor if you take anticoagulants or have surgery planned, and check first if you have gallstones. It can cause heartburn in some people.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
Iswari
Dragon Superfoods
