Ginger Tea Recipe ... dug out from a forgotten archive

I've heard about the goodness of ginger from my grandmother and my mother. Some use it as a rub to relieve pain from sore muscle (as practiced by my grandmother before). Ginger is also used in massage sessions for the same purpose. It is known to improve blood circulation, relieving stomach gas, arthritis and the list goes on ........

Visit Wonders of Ginger which describes the goodness of ginger in a nutshell.

Here's the ginger tea recipe imparted to me from a Balinese lady who works in a spa that I visited. This is good for 2~5 people. It help me improve digestion and soothe a chronic joint problems.

Simple Ingredients :

1) 2 pieces of old ginger about the size of your palm. It must be the old ginger to get the "oomph" for spiciness. This should be enough to extract 200ml of ginger juice. If there's more than enough, you can store it in your refrigerator and then use it another time.

2) 1 or 2 pieces of honey rock sugar. This type of sugar can be commonly found in Chinese Medicine Hall. You can substitute this with honey. I've tried this with Manuka Honey and it taste good too.

Procedure :

1) Peel the light brown skin off the ginger

I was using a knife in the picture but I've since switch to scrapping off the skin with a teaspoon. This is a safer way taught by a ginger lover comrade.

Peeled ginger

2) Grate the ginger with a grater to a slight coarseness. This is for extracting the ginger juice with minimal cloudiness. I've tried the blender but somehow I prefer the taste of my ginger tea made by manual grating. I know this is very tedious. Some tried slicing the ginger into slices and then boil them. It works as well but somehow the ginger spiciness is not as intense as this method. This method is squeezing out every juice from your ginger.

My coarse ginger puree

3) Extract the ginger juice by placing the grated ginger on the strainer and then press with a table spoon. There should be better tools then what I'm using for the extraction, but it's all I have that can do the job in my kitchen.

My ginger juice in a glass container. You can store extra ginger juice in the refrigerator to use another day.

4) With 200ml of the ginger juice mix about 600ml of water. Bring the mixture to boil and then turn to a low flame and then add about one piece of the honey rock sugar. Stir till the solution is boiled. Control the portion of sugar to suit your personal taste. The yellowish mixture will turn brown. Add more water if you find it too spicy. Add more water if you find it too spicy.

It's ready to be served. Just be aware that it may be too spicy for you. Drink it in small portions or dilute it with more water if you find that it's too spicy.

Wanna try some?