How Does This Ayurvedic Food Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Ever reach for dried ginger as a quick replacement for the fresh root and assume it's an apt substitute? Ginger is ginger, right? Actually, not at all. Dried ginger packs a powerful pungent punch that the fresh root can't come close to.

The treasured medicinal and culinary rhizome takes many forms, from fresh to dried to cooked to crystallized, and each form has its different assets. Dried and fresh ginger are so different that Ayurveda has a different name for each.

How different could the two possibly be? Majorly for instance, fresh ginger root can help stop a fever, and dried ginger is very heating. Dried ginger is extremely pungent, a strong medicine that clears congestion by burning it away with spicy strength. Dried ginger also stokes the digestive fire, aiding those with sluggish digestion, and can act as a stimulant, clearing out the fog.

Dried and fresh ginger are different not just because one is dehydrated. The process of drying the root instigates a chemical reaction that makes the two chemically different.

Dried ginger is a zingy herb that helps keep the body healthy through cold and damp conditions, and helps to make many foods more digestible for those with mucusy digestive symptoms. It is one of three ingredients in the Ayurvedic digestive formula trikatu. Dried ginger's punchy potency is what gives many baked goods like gingerbread that especially gingery tastiness, making these kinds of treats more accessible for those who find difficulty in digesting moist and dense foods.

Its potency is not for everybody. If you have a tendency toward heat, with loose stools, redness in the skin, and intensity, use caution with dried ginger, as well as those experiencing dryness. Dried ginger's pungency has a tendency to be very drying and could exacerbate disorders of dryness.