Ginger
Can be used as a vegetable, harmonizer, fruit, or medicine
——《Compendium of Materia Medica》
Ginger is a typical medicinal and edible plant widely used in daily life, often appearing as a seasoning ingredient in our dishes. It is a classic supporting role in mom’s recipes and always has a place in the kitchen.
Although the ginger used for consumption is mostly used as an ingredient, in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), ginger has been valued by herbalists throughout history. For example, in the classic TCM text 《Treatise on Cold Damage》, out of 112 formulas recorded, 59 involve ginger, accounting for 52.7% of the book, with 39 formulas using fresh ginger and 25 using dried ginger.
When used as a medicinal herb, according to the 2015 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, ginger is classified into five varieties: fresh ginger (sheng jiang), ginger peel (jiang pi), dried ginger (gan jiang), ginger carbon (jiang tan), and processed ginger (pao jiang), where ginger carbon and processed ginger are products made from dried ginger, and ginger peel is the skin of fresh ginger. Fresh ginger, as the name suggests, is the fresh form of ginger, which everyone is familiar with. Dried ginger, this name may be less familiar, can be understood literally as “sun-dried fresh ginger”.
Fresh ginger and dried ginger are both rhizomes of ginger; one is fresh, and the other is dried; one is a spicy-warm exterior-releasing herb, while the other is a warm interior herb, with differences in efficacy.
We can understand the differences in efficacy between fresh ginger, dried ginger, and ginger peel through the following table.
The ginger peel section of the above table refers to the 2012 Shandong Province Chinese Herbal Medicine Standards
Both fresh ginger and dried ginger have warming properties
Fresh ginger is more exterior-oriented, focusing on releasing the exterior, dispelling cold, and stopping vomiting, and is often used in exterior-releasing formulas;
Dried ginger is more interior-oriented, focusing on warming the middle, warming the lungs, and returning yang, and is often used in middle-regulating formulas;
Therefore, in clinical practice, there is a saying: “Use fresh ginger for new colds, and dried ginger for prolonged conditions.”
Ginger peel is a part of fresh ginger, but its properties and effects are completely different. Ginger peel is spicy and cool, has the effect of harmonizing the spleen, promoting water metabolism, and reducing swelling, commonly used in formulas like Five Peel Decoction (Wu Pi Yin) which treats edema.
Now, the focus of this article comes!
How can the difference in moisture content alone cause the differences in the functions of dried ginger and fresh ginger?
1.
First, although fresh ginger and dried ginger come from the same source, certain differences in quality are due to different planting regions and the results of long-term selective cultivation. Dried ginger and fresh ginger are two different cultivated varieties of ginger.
To understand this, we need to start from the growth and cultivation of ginger.
Ginger is propagated using rhizomes, and during its growth, it has parts such as the mother root (mother ginger) and the child root (child ginger).
There are southern and northern varieties of ginger.
Southern ginger (such as in Sichuan, Hunan, etc.) is generally harvested around the winter solstice due to the hot climate, abundant sunlight, and long growth period. Its rhizomes are small, have a strong powdery texture, and a pungent flavor, with less moisture, making it suitable for medicinal use, commonly referred to as medicinal ginger.
Northern ginger (such as in Shandong, Henan, etc.) is generally harvested around the beginning of autumn due to the colder climate and shorter growth period. Its rhizomes are large, have a weak powdery texture, a mild flavor, and more moisture, primarily used for consumption, or used as fresh ginger in medicine, commonly referred to as culinary ginger.
Secondly, even within southern regions like Sichuan and Guizhou, due to different field management practices, medicinal ginger and culinary ginger can form two varieties. Medicinal ginger is cultivated with shallow digging and thin soil, harvested around the winter solstice, with a long growth period; culinary ginger is cultivated with deep digging and thick soil, harvested around the beginning of autumn, with a growth period shorter by four months than medicinal ginger. If medicinal ginger is planted too deeply or covered with too much soil, it may grow into culinary ginger, reducing its quality.
2.
It can be said that for a long time, there has been a confusion in the use of fresh ginger and dried ginger in medicine, especially dried ginger. Although it is generally believed in the Ming and Qing dynasties after the 《Compendium of Materia Medica》 that dried ginger is made from mother ginger, most of the current usage is actually from child ginger. The commonly used varieties in different regions are roughly as follows:
① The medicinal ginger rhizomes dried products from major dried ginger producing areas like Sichuan have good quality and high yield, and are the most commonly seen in clinical practice;
② The dried products of mother ginger from various regions of culinary ginger, which are also of good quality, but with lower yield;
③ Some inferior dried products made from sliced culinary ginger are also common, but their quality and efficacy are poor.
Traditionally, the authentic dried ginger should be made from the mother ginger of medicinal ginger produced in areas like Qianwei and Sanqu of Sichuan, processed by peeling and sun-drying.
3.
Additionally, the differences between the two are not only in moisture content; their chemical compositions are also not entirely the same.
The main chemical components in fresh ginger and dried ginger are primarily volatile oils and pungent compounds, with the pungent compounds mainly including gingerol, zingiberene, and zingerone. Literature reports indicate that the total volatile oil content in dried ginger is lower than that in fresh ginger, but the pungent compounds are more abundant in dried ginger. Besides the differences in component ratios, each also contains its unique chemical constituents; for example, fresh ginger contains compounds like α-gingerol that are absent in dried ginger, while dried ginger contains compounds like linalyl acetate and β-ocimene that are not found in fresh ginger.
As for whether these differences lead to variations in medicinal efficacy, further research is needed, but it is sufficient to indicate that the differences between the two are not merely due to moisture content.
Both the historical use of ginger in medicine and modern pharmaceutical research confirm that fresh ginger and dried ginger indeed have differences. Although the relationship between the two is somewhat complex, it is important to note that they should not be confused in daily use.
– END –
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References:
[1] An Tianyu, On the Different Uses of Dried Ginger and Fresh Ginger in the 《Treatise on Cold Damage》[J]. Modern Health (Second Half Month Edition), 2018,1:150-151
[2] Xuan Zhenyu, Liu Mingling. A Study on the Medicinal Sources of Dried Ginger and Fresh Ginger[J]. Shanghai Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2003,37(2): 48-50
[3] Zhang Chang, Yu Chenghao, Peng Cheng. Research Progress on Dried Ginger and Fresh Ginger from Sichuan as Authentic Chinese Medicinal Materials[J]. Chinese Medicine and Clinical, 2012,3(6):56-58
[4] Li Jiping, Wang Yuesheng et al. Comparative Study of the Main Chemical Components of Dried Ginger and Fresh Ginger[J]. Chinese Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2001,26(11):748-751
[5] Wang Meizhi, Zhao Guizhi. Dried Ginger is Not the Same as “Dried Fresh Ginger”[J]. Chinese Journal of Basic Medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2011,8(17),8:908-909
[6] National Pharmacopoeia Commission. Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China[S]. Volume 1. Beijing: China Medical Science Press, 2015
[7] Shandong Food and Drug Administration. Shandong Province Chinese Herbal Medicine Standards[S]. Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2012
Author| Zheng Zhimin
First Published| Lingnan Pharmacy
Editor| Peng Xiaoqing
Editor| Xia Jialin
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