Top 9 Dried Ginger Health Benefits | Styles At Life

Ginger and its dried form have been an important ingredient in Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicinal system.

Dry ginger has always been used as a pain relief ingredient. Apart from relieving pain, it has the power to cure cold, treat urinary or abdominal infections and also plays an important role in weight loss diets.

Dried ginger is called as suku or saunth powder. Fresh ginger is dried and crushed to a off-white coloured powder. It has a pungent flavour and strong aroma. It can be stored easily in a air tight container and can be used for one year.

Ginger or its dried form, popularly known assunth powder containsgingerol, zingerone, and shogaols which actually give it that pungent aroma and strong taste. It also has monoterpenoid beta, phalledrenecitral, bisabolene, sesquiterpenoids and farnesene, which are active compounds. Ginger is a very good ingredient to enrich health and boost immunity!

How to Make Dry Ginger or How to Dehydrate Ginger and Make Powder:

With or without dehydrator, drying or dehydrating ginger is not a big deal.

Choosing:

• Before you buy ginger, you need to run it through a freshness test. Well! You just need to pinch a small piece from the root and see if its coming out clean or has some fibers sticking out. If it comes out clean, it means the ginger is fresh and you are good to go.
• This doesn’t mean that ginger with fiber is not good for drying. It is good too but it gets difficult to grind the fiber into a smooth powder. So, pick the fresh ginger with not much fiber.
• Wash the ginger cleanly and peel it off. Cut it into thin pieces.

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Drying:

• Drying ginger is as simple as putting it on a plate under sunlight or just at the window side with more light for a couple of days.
• If you cant buy any time, just consider slicing the ginger and use a dehydrator or oven. Let the ginger be inside for around 2 hours at the oven set at150F and keep checking intermittently.
• Once you see that your ginger is dry and ready to come out, take it out and leave it to cool.
• Make sure the ginger to perfectly dry.

Making Powder and Storing:

• To make the dried ginger powder, wipe your blender clean and dry and add the dried ginger slices to it. Now, grind it into a fine powder. Let it cool and then transfer it to an airtight container.

Here are some quick tips for using dry ginger as a home remedy medicine

Its Benefits:

1. To Relieve Inflammation:

• Dried ginger is used to relieve arthritis pain and inflammation as it has anti-inflammatory characteristics.
• Mix 4-5 tablespoons of dried ginger powder in a jar of water and boil it. Daily intake of water will treat the swelling in joints.
• Topical application of paste on knees also relieves joint pain.

2. As a kitchen Ingredient:

• Dried ginger is used in masalas and spices in kitchen to make stews, curries,marinades and gravies.
• It is used in food made for lactating mothers and pregnant women.
• Also used to add flavor to different baked recipes like ginger bread, ginger candies and ginger cookies.

3. To Treat an Upset Stomach:

• Stomach irritation is cured by taking ginger powder with juice of sugar cane.
• Daily intake of this mixture in the early morning will relieve you from all stomach problems.

See More: Flax seed Benefits

4. As a Pain Relief Medicine:

• Mix dried ginger powder with water to make a paste.
• Applying this paste on your forehead will treat the headache.
• Throat pain also get relieved by applying a layer of this paste on the throat.
• Dried ginger can also treat chest pain. Mix sugar, coconut water and dried ginger. Chest pain will be cured by drinking it.

5. To Cure Cold:

• Dried ginger is used very commonly to cure the cough and common cold.
• Make tea with dried ginger and consume it 2-3 times in a day to get rid of irritating cold.
• Running nose can be stopped by the intake of mixture of jaggery and dried ginger powder.

6. As a Medicine for Skin Problems:

• It acts as a skin toner. Add 2-3 teaspoons of ginger powder in 3 glass of water. Boil it until it becomes half. Cool and strain it. Now add some drops of rosemary oil. Mix it well and store in refrigerator in a glass container like bottle. Apply it on the face with cotton. It will remove impurities, reduces dryness and hydrates he skin.
• Dried ginger powder has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory characteristics which helps in opening the pores of face and thus reduces the acne.
• Mix ginger powder and milk powder with rose water to a fine paste. Apply it on your face and let it remain for 15 minutes. Wash it normal water and apply good moisturiser. Use it once in a week to get rid of pimples and breakouts. This face mask will revitalize your skin cells and give you a fresh glow.

7. For Weight Loss:

• For weight loss ginger tea is a best option. Add half teaspoon of ginger powder in one cup of warm water. Daily intake of this water will help in reducing weight. You can sweeten it by mixing honey.
• Dried ginger has thermogenic agents which burn fat and cure obesity.

8. To Relieve from Bloating and Indigestion:

• Mix black salt, dried ginger powder and a bit of asafoetida in hot water to get relieved from flatulence.
• Add half spoon carom seeds with dried ginger powder in 3-4 drops of lime juice. Mix it to a fine paste and keep it for drying in shadow. Consume daily 1 gram in evening and early morning with salt to get devoid of flatulence, indigestion and bloating.

See More: Cumin Powder Health Benefits

9. To treat Urinary Tract Infections:

Add dried ginger powder to milk to cure urinary infections. You can add sugar as per your taste to it.

Side Effects:

Now everything that has benefits on one side also has side effects on the other right! Here you go, dried ginger also has mild side effects.

When dried ginger or even fresh ginger for instance when consumed in larger quantities may give some people burning sensation in the stomach and heart, an upset stomach and diarrhoea. In some women who are sensitive ginger may experience a little extra flow during their monthly menses time.

Some people who have a sensitive skin might experience irritation when their skin comes in contact with ginger.

Except for these mild side effects, ginger has never been reported harmful in any other way. It is a very exclusive ingredient put to the best use for culinary and medicinal use.

Therefore, the next time you wish to try some ginger in your diet, go ahead and pick some fresh ginger or dry it up and try a small amount. Enjoy the flavour as it is!

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