Herb Name: Dried Ginger (Gan Jiang)
Harvesting and Processing: Harvested in winter, removing fibrous roots and soil, then sun-dried or dried at low temperatures. Freshly sliced and dried is referred to as “
Dried Ginger Slices”.
Medicinal Part: Rhizome
Origin: Mainly produced in Sichuan, Guizhou, and other regions
Family: Zingiberaceae
Original Plant: Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Plant Characteristics: Perennial herb
Dried Ginger Slices Characteristics: Flat, block-like, with finger-like branches, measuring 3～7cm, thickness 1～2cm. Surface is grayish-yellow or light gray-brown, rough, with longitudinal wrinkles and distinct nodes. Branching often retains scale leaves, with stem scars or buds at the tips. Firm texture, cross-section is yellowish-white or grayish-white, powdery or granular, with distinct annular patterns in the inner skin layer, vascular bundles, and scattered yellow oil spots. Aroma is fragrant and unique, with a spicy taste.
Outer skin is grayish-yellow, inner is grayish-white, with a powdery cross-section and few fibrous veins being the best quality.
Properties of Dried Ginger:
【Compendium of Materia Medica, Middle Grade】 Dried Ginger is spicy and warm. It is indicated for chest fullness, cough, and counterflow of qi, warming the middle, stopping bleeding, inducing sweating, expelling wind-dampness, treating intestinal dysentery, and is especially good when fresh. Long-term use can dispel foul qi and clarify the mind.
It is spicy, warm in nature, and enters the channels of the Foot Yangming Stomach, Foot Taiyin Spleen, Foot Jueyin Liver, and Hand Taiyin Lung. It dries dampness, warms the middle, moves stagnation, supplements fire and earth, aids digestion, warms the spleen and stomach, warms the hands and feet, regulates yin and yang, stops vomiting, counteracts counterflow, and alleviates cough. (For diarrhea, modify Shen Wu Decoction by removing Paeoniae Radix and adding Dried Ginger.)
Fire rises, and with Wu Earth to descend, it prevents excessive yin from rising and causing heat; water moistens and with Ji Earth to ascend, it prevents yang from rising and causing cold. The interaction of Wu and Ji Earth maintains balance, preventing excessive yang from causing heat and excessive yin from causing cold. When the middle qi is weak, the ascending and descending functions fail, leading to water moistening and causing cold, and fire rising and causing heat. Wu Earth does not descend, counteracting fire, thus transforming fire into heat; Ji Earth does not ascend, trapped in water, thus transforming water into cold; hence, water and fire separate, with Wu Earth being dry and hot and Ji Earth being moist and cold. This is the norm. However, the dryness and heat of Wu Earth cannot overcome the moisture and cold of Ji Earth, as water can overcome fire, thus cold can overcome heat; hence, among ten patients, nine suffer from cold dampness that does not cease. The drying and heating nature of Dried Ginger is particularly suitable for dampness and cold, and its invigorating power can assist in restoring balance; cold condenses while warmth promotes movement, thus its ability to counteract counterflow and alleviate stagnation is remarkable. Zhang Zhongjing used it in the Li Zhong Wan formula, where the mechanism of ascending and descending is crucial, hence skilled physicians use it to treat diarrhea and regulate chaos. For symptoms like cough, counterflow, food stagnation, bloating, and vomiting, without the heavy use of ginger and licorice, no efficacy can be achieved; no other herbs can replace it for regulating ascending and descending, clearing and turbid, nourishing the spleen and stomach, and digesting food.
The nature of the five organs: metal counterflow causes upper heat, wood stagnation causes lower heat. Symptoms like vomiting, epistaxis, cough, and shortness of breath indicate upper heat; menorrhagia and leukorrhea, dysuria, and diarrhea indicate lower heat. When Dried Ginger is used, both upper and lower heat are alleviated. When metal counterflows and wood stagnates, it originates from dampness and cold in the middle palace; Dried Ginger warms the middle and disperses cold, restoring normal ascending and descending functions without aiding evil. For excessive evil in the upper and lower, slightly assist with clearing metal and moistening wood, and they can proceed together without conflict. If one does not understand warming the middle and only clears the upper and lower, the more one clears, the more heat will arise, leading to death if not stopped. This is the poison of the mediocre, and a long-standing grievance that must be discerned.
Blood is stored in the liver and originates from the spleen. Dried Ginger regulates the liver and smooths the spleen, warming the blood and warming the meridians. For women with menstrual pain, dark purple bleeding, miscarriage, and prolonged infertility, it is due to deficiency of yang in the liver and spleen, and cold congealing in the blood sea. All should use Dried Ginger to supplement warmth and warm the blood sea. It should be slightly stir-fried for use, avoiding burning.
【Origin】 Found everywhere, made from mother ginger sliced and dried in the wind and sun during winter.
【Properties and Taste】 Spicy, warm, non-toxic.
【Indications】 Dried Ginger is a key herb for dispelling cold and resolving masses, indicated for warming the middle, expelling cold, reviving yang, and unblocking meridians, treating cold limbs, cold in the middle causing diarrhea, cold pain from hernia, cold diarrhea, abdominal pain, unblocking the viscera, and unblocking the meridians.
【Additional Notes】 For cold abdominal pain, evil cholera, bloating, wind evil, and various toxins, it stops spitting blood.
【Zhen Quan】 Treats cold pain in the waist and kidneys, breaks blood and expels wind, unblocks the joints of the limbs, opens the five viscera and six bowels, unblocks the meridians, expels wind, toxins, and cold dampness, and reduces frequent urination at night.
【Da Ming】 Resolves phlegm and descends qi, treats cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, and internal organs, counteracts vomiting and dry retching, stops bleeding from the nose, resolves cold and hot toxins, opens the appetite, and digests food.
【Hao Gu】 Indicated for cold phlegm in the heart and prolonged redness of the eyes.
【Rong Chuan】 Dried Ginger processed is warm but not fierce, light and floating, while unprocessed Dried Ginger is potent and can dispel cold, warming the yang in the earth; when yang emerges, yin dissipates, making it a remedy for cold dampness and a supplement for fire, as fire can transform water, thus promoting blood circulation. It can supplement the fire of the spleen, thus earth can treat water.
【Yao Zheng】 Indicated for resolving stagnation of water and toxins, also treats vomiting, cough, diarrhea, counterflow, abdominal pain, chest pain, and lumbar pain. 【Ling Tai】 Drives away cold and eliminates dampness, harmonizes blood and promotes qi.
【Dosage】 Generally 3 to 9 grams, with larger doses up to 2 liang.
【Contraindications】 Fresh ginger, dried ginger, and processed ginger have the same contraindications; long-term use can harm yin and damage the eyes, accidental ingestion can deplete fluids, and for those with yin deficiency and internal heat, yin deficiency cough with blood, exterior deficiency with heat, sweating from spontaneous sweating, organ toxicity with blood in stool, heat-induced vomiting, and bloating from heat are all contraindicated.
【Processing】 Dried Ginger: Remove impurities, soak briefly, wash clean, moisten thoroughly, cut into thick slices or blocks, and dry. This product is irregularly shaped slices or blocks, thickness 0.2～0.4cm. According to the method of total ash content determination, it should not exceed 5.5%.
Ginger Charcoal: Take dried ginger blocks, and fry until the surface is black and the inside is brown.
【Properties and Taste】 Spicy, hot.
【Meridian Entry】 Enters the Spleen, Stomach, Kidney, Heart, and Lung meridians.
【Functions and Indications】 Dried Ginger warms the middle, disperses cold, revives yang, and unblocks meridians. It is used for cold pain in the abdomen, vomiting, diarrhea, cold limbs, and weak pulse, phlegm, and cough.
【Usage and Dosage】 3～9g.
【Storage】 Store in a cool, dry place, protected from pests.
【Preparation】 Ginger tincture.