Conference turris::cooks

Regarding (1), the outer (less fibrous) part of ginger root often has a
somewhat bluish cast to it.  Remember that ginger root is alive.  If the root is
firm (not shrivelled or mushy), then that's probably all it is.

--PSW

    Yeah, I've often used ginger with the bluish tint and haven't come to
    any harm - yet ! BTW, if you freeze ginger root it'll keep almost
    indefinitely. Take it out of the freezer just before you use it and
    it's a hell of a lot easier to peel, slice and dice.
    
    Green peppercorns feature in some Asian dishes, usually whole. Never
    heard of rose (?) ones.
    
    Jim

I store my ginger, covered in dry sherry in the fridge, and it lasts forever,
for years.  It also gives the sherry a wonderful flavor to use in Chinese 
cooking.  Just keep adding more sherry to keep the ginger covered.

The pepper in my peppermill is a gourmet mix of white, black, green and red,
it's delicious.  Just mix them all together and use as you would regular black.
It's slightly more pungent, and great!

    re .3  When you keep the ginger in the sherry, do you chop and peel the
    gingeroot first?  Or do you put the pieces in whole?
    
    

Just put the whole piece in, and peel and chop when needed!    
    
Laura

Could someone please tell me how much dried ginger is equivalent to 50 grams
of fresh ginger?  Is there a general rule of thumb for dried versus fresh,
does each spice need to be considered individually?

Thanks,
Laura

    
    
    Rep .7  Laura
    
    >>>Could someone please tell me how much dried ginger is equivalent to
    50 grams of fresh ginger?  Is there a general rule of thumb for dried
    versus fresh, does each spice need to be considered individually?
    
   The general rule of thumb for dried vs fresh is 3:1, you use three times
  as much fresh as you would use for dried. So you would need about 18g of
  dired ginger. I hope you have a good scale. ;-)
    
    
    -mike
    

Thanks Mike!

I don't need to know this for cooking, I've read that taking 50 grams of
fresh ginger a day blocks arthritic pain.  I've bought some ginger root
tablets that are (I believe) 1500 mg. each, so I don't need a scale!


Laura
    
    

RE: .9

You ought to check first whether dried ginger can be used in place of 
fresh ginger for this medical purpose.  I know that, in cooking, 
there are lots of situations where dried ginger is not an adequate 
substitute for fresh ginger.

--PSW

Well, I know the dried ginger can be used for nausea and stomach ailments,
and it's sold in that form primarily for medicinal purposes (in the capsules),
but I will try to find out...I'm having very little success finding any info
on this use of ginger as is (for relief of arthritis pain).  Thanks for the
input though.

Laura

    Ginger has some chemical in it that affects the inner ear, so that is
    apparently why it has traditionally been used for nausea and
    seasickness.  The chemical (I forget just what it is) is not affected
    by drying the ginger, so ginger capsules, pickled ginger, and
    crystallized ginger all help for that purpose.  There's probably more
    to a lot of old traditional remedies such things than we often think,
    but at any rate there turned out to be a real basis for this particular
    one.  I suppose the advantage is that this means that the chemical
    could be isolated and manufactured by itself to relieve the same
    symptoms for people who hate the taste of ginger.  I don't get seasick
    myself, but my husband uses the ginger capsules since they don't knock
    him out, and one of our friends makes his own pickled ginger which he
    eats if he gets seasick (you can buy it readymade if you have a
    Japanese grocer nearby, of course).  Both of them like ginger anyhow.
    
    I don't know of any traditional use of giner root for arthritis, but
    that doesn't mean it hasn't been done or that there isn't any real
    basis to it.  At any rate, it isn't likely to harm you so you may as
    well try it and see if it helps in your case - I've never heard of
    anyone being allergic to ginger, but you would obviously stop consuming
    it if it caused bothersome side effects anyhow.  Since I don't know
    what if any component of ginger root would be involved here, I don't
    know if drying, cooking, pickling, or candying it would cause it not to
    work.
    
    As has been said already, dried ginger makes a poor substitute for
    fresh ginger.  The taste is not all that similar.  You can sort of get
    away with using dried ginger in place of candied ginger in baked goods,
    if you can't find (or make) candied ginger.  Pickled ginger is unique,
    but you wouldn't use it as an ingredient in anything I can think of
    anyhow, and it is easy to make - if you make your own you can avoid
    adding the red-pink food coloring, too, which might be a problem in
    itself for some people.
    
    /Charlotte

    fyi:  This note made me wonder, so I just went looking and found a
    recipe for pickled ginger in 311.31

    I happened to read over the weekend about the use of ginger in Japan to
    control inflamation due to arthritis.  Apparently the active ingredient
    in this case is one of the aromatic flavor components of ginger root. 
    The Japanese research suggests 1 teaspoon fresh ginger or 1/3
    teaspoon ground ginger consumed three times a day alone or in food (it
    didn't mention cooked vs. raw, so I assume cooking doesn't destroy the
    chemical - since cooking doesn't destroy the flavor of ginger).  The
    same article mentioned ginger's use for controlling nausea due to
    seasickness.
    
    /Charlotte

Thanks, Charlotte.  Do you happen to remember the reference?

Laura

    It was in one of those little bits-of-news articles in the Sunday paper
    (Middlesex News, local paper for Framingham, Mass. area - not a real
    good paper, either, IMHO) and didn't have the original reference to the
    Japanese reasearchers.  Those little articles don't originate at the
    local paper, though, so the original reference will probably appear
    shortly from some newswire feed.  In the meantime, it might just be
    time to try cooking Thai Ginger Beef or something - can't hurt, may
    help, tastes good, etc.  It's even good made with chicken instead.
    Or you could tyr your local health-food emporium for the ginger
    capsules - sold for seasickness prevention and may contain even more
    ginger than this suggestion.
    
    /Charlotte

/Charlotte,

I am taking the ginger capsules and they do seem to be helping. Still
trying to find out why!  I have read that the ginger blocks two enzymes
that cause inflammation.

I also plan on making some pickled ginger, I enjoy it anyway!

Laura

   I realize that this is not a medical/healing conference, but to
   continue the digression a little... see also...
   
   http://burn.ucsd.edu/remedies.htm
   
   This includes an extensive list of home remedies and ginger is
   referenced several times in the text as a possible remedy.
   
   fwiw,
   
   - Tom

Thanks Tom,

I'll check it out!

Laura