The Gingerbread Man

We grew up with the story of the Gingerbread Man who thought that he escaped but ended up in the fox’s stomach. Besides being used in baking, there are multiple other uses for this spice.

The spice that we know comes from the root of the ginger plant. It has been used for a few thousand years in various forms including fresh, powdered/ ground, candied and dried not to even mention its non-nutritional uses. It is often found as an extract or added flavour agent in products to enhance the flavour and to provide health properties.

Places where you’ll find ginger easily are ginger tea, carrot & ginger juice, ginger biscuits, ginger added to a sushi meal, ginger flavoured oats and candied ginger in mixed nuts packages. It is also widely used in nutritional supplements given to hospital or home-based patients treated for cancer or HIV/ AIDS (amongst others).

Here’s a recipe for a ginger and lemon iced tea:

4 green tea bags 15ml fresh grated ginger 15ml grated orange peel 2 cups fresh orange juice (or apple juice if you prefer) 4 Ice Cubes Mint

Prepare the tea with 500ml hot water, add the ginger and orange peel and leave for 5 minutes.
Pour the tea through a sieve
Stir the juice (orange or apple) into the tea
Serve chilled with ice cubes and mint leaves