Ginger, Preparations & Dose

Foods that go well with ginger

Preparation:

Use: used fresh or dried, ginger is prepared by decoction or tincture, or taken in essential oil form. the decoction & tincture should be used for respiratory, digestive and menstrual conditions. In exterior respiratory conditions the short decoction of the fresh root (decocted with the lid on) has the best diaphoretic effect.

Powdered ginger should be stored in well-closed containers (not plastic) which prevent access of moisture. Store protected from light in a cool, dry place.

Fresh Juice Juice fresh and use 4 ounces, mixed with equal parts hot water, 3 times daily. Add honey and lemon or lime to taste. You can freeze the fresh juice in ice cube trays for later use, or preserve by adding enough alcohol to bring the total alcohol content above 20% (25 ml of 95% alcohol and 75 ml fresh ginger juice).

Tincture Fresh root, finely grated: 1:3 60%, 2-3 weeks. OR, Preserve fresh juice with 25% alcohol, 1-5 ml (0.2-1tsp) up to 8 times daily; Dried root (1:5, 60% alcohol), 0.8-1.5ml (0.1-0.3 tsp) in water 3 times daily

Glycerite Dried root (1:5, sealed simmer method), 1-3 ml (0.2-0.6 tsp) in water as needed; preserve fresh juice with 50% glycerin, measure the total amount of liquid, and add 20% brandy or rum, 1/2-1 tsp with water as needed.

Capsules 500-1,000 mg, as needed up to 8 daily

Powder Taken as a food it promotes digestion and general health

Poultices and compresses for muscle aches

Topical Applications

Ginger can be prepared as a compress and applied over arthritic joints, bunions, sore muscles, and toothaches to relieve pain; over the kidneys to relieve the pain and assist in the passage of stones; over the chest or back to relieve asthma symptoms; or over the temples to relieve headache. Ginger is wonderful in the bath in cases of chills, muscle soreness, sciatica, and poor circulation.

The Physiomedical Dispensatory by William Cook, M.D., 1869

Pharmaceutical Preparations: I. Tincture. Crush two and a half ounces of ginger, and tincture for fourteen days with a pint of seventy-five percent alcohol. Express, filter, and add enough alcohol to make a pint. Or the root may be macerated in alcohol for two days, then treated by percolation, using a pint of the menstruum, expressing the dregs, filtering, and adding enough alcohol to make a pint. If diluted alcohol is used, the tincture is liable to become muddy after a few weeks. Dose from ten drops to a fluid drachm. Used as a carminative, and as a valuable adjunct to bitter and cathartic mixtures. The officinal United States method employs four ounces of the crushed root to obtain one pint of tincture by percolation, and is usually called Essence of Ginger.

II. Sirup: Evaporate two fluid ounces of ginger tincture to one fluid ounce; rub it with two drachms of carbonate magnesia and one ounce of sugar, gradually add one pint of water by trituration, filter, melt into this one and a half pounds of sugar at a gentle heat, and strain while hot. This is the elegant method of the U. S. P. The common practice mixes one fluid ounce of the above tincture with seven fluid ounces of simple sirup, but the preparation is neither so clear nor so palatable. It is used as a flavoring vehicle, especially for fluid extracts. Dose, one to four fluid drachms.

III. Fluid Extract. “ Take ginger in fine powder, sixteen troy ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the ginger with four fluid ounces of alcohol, introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, press it firmly, and gradually pour alcohol upon it until twelve fluid ounces of tincture have passed. Set this aside, and continue the percolation until twenty fluid ounces more of tincture have been obtained, evaporate this to four fluid ounces, mix it with the reserved tincture, and filter through paper.” (U. S. P.) Dose, ten to thirty drops in water. An oleo-resin is obtained by treating the root with ether and then with alcohol, and evaporating. It is a thick, dark fluid, very intense in action, of which a single drop may be triturated with a drachm of sugar and given as a dose.

IV. Cholera Tincture. Zingiber, myrica, caulophyllum, liriodendron, each, four ounces; myrrh, four drachms; capsicum, one drachm. Treat by percolation with diluted alcohol till two quarts pass; and add, by trituration, twenty drops each of oils of peppermint and anise. I used this with good advantage in the cholera epidemic of 1867; and also value it in colic from sudden exposure. Dose, one to three fluid drachms, in any suitable infusion.

Dose:

Short decoction: 1-3 g fresh root; 3-10 g dried root

Tincture: 0.5 - 2 ml.

Essential oil: 1-2 drops in a gelatin cap topped with olive oil

Ginger, Preparations & Dose

Product: The Ginger People Organic Ginger Juice

How to store fresh ginger

Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste (no oil, no salt)

Will last for six months

Tips for using ginger

Foods that go well with ginger