Erbe mediche in ayurveda: il famoso zenzero!

Sanskrit: Árdrakam
Hindi: Ádrak/Suòóh
English: Fresh Ginger/dry Ginger
Latin: Zingiberis officinale roscoe.
Part Used: Rhizomes
Energetics: Pungent, sweet-hot-sweet VKP+
Tissues: All
Systems: Digestive, respiratory
Action: Analgesic, antiemetic, aromatic, aphrodisiac, carminative, diaphoretic, digestive, expectorant, nervine, sialagogue, stimulant.
Uses: Ginger is truly a wonder drug, having so many healing properties. It was called the universal medicine. Taken with rock salt it reduces Váyu; with rock candy it reduces Pitta; with honey it reduces Kapha.
Fresh: Mixed juice with water and cane sugar, boiled to a syrup—add saffron and powders of cardamom, nutmeg, and clove and preserve well.

This ginger-jam, called Allaepauk, is useful indigestion, flatulence, colic, vomiting, spasms, stomach and bowel pains with fever, colds, cough, asthma, and increasing Pachaka Agni (responsible for digestion).

For indigestion, mix equal parts juice with lemon juice and rock salt (found in Indian groceries), and take just before meals.

Taking the juice with rock salt, before meals, cleanses the throat and tongue, and increases the appetite.

For bile and delirium due to biliousness, take ginger juice with cow’s milk (2:7 ratio), boil to half volume and add rock-candy powder, and take before bed. Or mix juice with mango juice, cane sugar, and cow ghee; mix and melt to half the quantity and take mornings and evenings.

For sore throats, hoarseness, and laryngitis, sometimes chewing a piece of fresh ginger produces saliva and soothes these conditions.

Juice rubbed on navel relieves diarrhea. Ginger adn onion juice relieve nausea, vomiting, and retching.

Juice with rock candy (twice daily) remedies diabetes (mellitus and insipidus),

For nervous headache, mix ginger juice with milk, let dry, and use as snuff.

Dry: With black and long peppers (trikatu) it is a carminative. Added to purgatives, it prevents nausea and the gripe. For indigestion and low appetite, mix with ghee or hot water.

With painful bowels or stomach make an infusion of dry ginger, and mix with 1-2 tbs. castor oil. Alternatively, mix some asafoetida with ginger powder.

For chronic rheumatic pain (Váyu or Kapha), colds, excess mucus, take ginger powder tea before bed, and cover up with blankets to promote sweating.

In cases of headaches, make a paste of ginger and aloe gel or water, and apply to the head and take a nap or before evening sleep.

The same paste maybe applied to the face for tooth or face aches.

For headaches caused by nerves, mix a paste of ginger, cinnamon, castor root, and cloves (equal parts); and apply to the head.

For fainting, apply a thin paste of ginger and water to the eyelids, or place a mix of suòóh, black pepper and pippalí under the nostrils in small pinches. This will also help stupor, delirium and senselessness caused by brain fever.

Other uses: Arthritis, belching, heart disease, laryngitis (use as a tea and an external paste on throat), vomiting, constipation, strengthens memory, removes obstructions in the vessels, incontinence, flatulence, colic, spasms, fever, eye diseases, and asthma.

Juice is better for colds, cough, vomiting, deranged Váyu, and as a diaphoretic.

Dry ginger is better for increasing agni and reducing Kapha.

Spiritual Uses: Most sattwic (spiritually pure) spice
Precautions: Aggravates Pitta (i.e., inflamed skin diseases, fever, bleeding, ulcers, etc.)
Preparation: Fresh juice, infusion, decoction, powder, pills and paste