A sharp, warming root that wakes a sluggish meal up.
In the pot
Fresh and dried behave differently and are not interchangeable. Fresh ginger goes in early when you want depth, or grated in at the end when you want bite. Dried ground ginger is hotter and more concentrated, used in smaller pinches.
For chai I bruise a thumb of fresh ginger with the back of a spoon before it goes into the milk. Bruising opens it up. Slicing is not the same.
In the body
Ginger is pungent and warming, and it lights agni (digestive fire) more directly than almost anything else in the spice drawer. It suits vata (the air constitution) and kapha (the earth and water constitution), and is used sparingly in pitta cooking.
On a cold morning I grate fresh ginger into hot water with a squeeze of lemon, before anything else. Half an hour later the appetite has arrived on its own.
