Ginger a Root to Remember

Ginger is a common spice in Asian cuisines. It can be bruised for soups and stews, sliced for candy and preserves, pureed for jams or turn into powder for dusting over drinks. Ginger is a root spice that was sought after for its medicinal functions apart from culinary use. It is known to have been used as early as 600 A.D. and used in the Western Europe in the 13th century. The Romans' trade route revolved around spices, one of the spices in the list of their conquest was in fact ginger.

This root has many functions, from treating stomach ailments to nausea and the flu. In the kitchen, it can be used either for cooking, to make drinks or just plain preservation and candies. It also works as great palate cleansers for you to taste the next following meal or dish.

So how exactly do you use this very important spice in your daily cooking? 

There are two types of ginger, the fresh & young ginger VS. old & dry ginger.  The younger ginger has a soft and milder taste to it. This ginger is more likely to be used with recipes that do not require a strong taste to the tongue, but rather a soft subtle lingering taste. You can use this in stir fried vegetables, chicken recipes as marinates or additional spice for chicken in soy sauce and spring onions, or even used in dipping sauces. You can even use it for making tea as shown above.

As for the old & dry ginger, you may want to use it with recipes that require a more stronger taste to your palate, such in the likes of beef curry. Due to the strong gamey taste of the meat, the ginger works as a neutraliser and enhances the taste of the curry and the beef. So, when you taste the curry on your tongue, you have not just a strong combination of heat from the curry but a nice hint of ginger that rounds up the flavour. If you only have fresh ginger - you can still use it, but it will not give you that ending UMPH! needed, as the younger ginger has a milder and less strong taste to your palate.  This also works with soups.

Hint: When using old ginger, be sure to bruise it a bit before to break out the juices and aroma.