NAFI'S

Ginger and Lemon Grass are among the wonderfully tasty ingredients inNAFI'S condiments. We all know quite a bit about them by now. They smell great, they taste delicious, they are good for us... These are facts...But how good are they really? I research a little further and I wanted to share these finds with you.

"Ginger is the rhizomeof the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family (Zingiberaceae). Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal.

Ginger cultivation began in South Asia and has since spread to East & West Africa and the Caribbean. It is sometimes called root ginger to distinguish it from other things that share the name ginger.

Ginger acts as a useful food preservative.

In the Caribbean, ginger is a popular spice for cooking, and making drinks such as sorrel, a seasonal drink made during the Christmas Jamaicans make ginger beer both as a carbonated beverage and also fresh in their homes. Ginger tea is often made from fresh ginger, as well as the famous regional specialty Jamaican ginger cake. season.

On the island of Corfu, Greece, a traditional drink called τσιτσιμπύρα (tsitsibira), a type of ginger beer, is made. The people of Corfu and the rest of the Ionian islands adopted the drink from the British, during the period of the United States of the Ionian Islands.

In Arabic, ginger is called zanjabil, and in some parts of the Middle East, ginger powder is used as a spice for coffee and for milk, as well. In Somaliland, ginger is called sinjibil, and is served in coffee shops in Egypt. In the Ivory Coast, ginger is ground and mixed with orange, pineapple and lemon to produce a juice called nyamanku. Ginger powder is used in hawaij, a spice mixture used mostly by Yemenite Jews for soups and coffee.

Medical properties and research

Ginger have been claimed to decrease the pain from arthritis, though studies have been inconsistent. It may also have blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease.

Preliminary research also indicates that nine compounds found in ginger may bind to human serotonin receptors, possibly helping to affect anxiety.

Advanced glycation end-products are possibly associated in the development of several pathophysiologies, including diabetic cataract for which ginger was effective in preliminary studies, apparently by acting through antiglycating mechanisms.

Ginger compounds are active against a form of diarrhea which is the leading cause of infant death in developing countries. Zingerone is likely to be the active constituent against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin-induced diarrhea.

Ginger has been found effective in multiple studies for treating nausea caused by seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy, though ginger was not found superior over a placebo for pre-emptively treating post-operative nausea. Ginger is a safe remedy for nausea relief during pregnancy. Ginger as a remedy for motion sickness is still a debated issue. The television program Mythbusters performed an experiment using one of their staff who suffered from severe motion sickness. The staff member was placed in a moving device which, without treatment, produced severe nausea. Multiple treatments were administered. None, with the exception of the ginger and the two most common drugs, were successful. The staff member preferred the ginger due to lack of side effects. Several studies over the last 20 years were inconclusive with some studies in favor of the herb and some not. A common thread in these studies is the lack of sufficient participants to yield statistical significance. Another issue is the lack of a known chemical pathway for the supposed relief.

The characteristic odor and flavor of ginger is caused by a mixture of zingerone, shogaols and gingerols, volatile oils that compose one to three percent of the weight of fresh ginger. In laboratory animals, the gingerrols increase the motility of the gastrointestinal tract and have analgesic, sedative, antipyretic and antibacterial skin cancer in mice and a study at the University of Michigan ovarian cancer cells. [6]-gingerol (1-[4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl]-5-hydroxy-3-decanone) is the major pungent principle of ginger. The chemopreventive potentials of [6]-gingerol present a promising future alternative to expensive and toxic therapeutic agents.

Ginger has a sialagogue action, stimulating the production of saliva, which makes swallowing easier.

Folk medicine

A packet of ginger powder from the Philippines is used there in brewing "salabat".

The traditional medical form of ginger historically was called Jamaica ginger; it was classified as a stimulant and carminative and used frequently for dyspepsia, gastroparesis, slow motility symptoms, constipation, and colic. It was also frequently employed to disguise the taste of medicines.

Tea brewed from ginger is a common folk remedy for colds. Ginger ale and ginger beer are also drunk as stomach settlers in countries where the beverages are made.

In Burma, ginger and a local sweetener made from palm tree juice (htan nyat) are boiled together and taken to prevent the flu.
In China, ginger is included in several traditional preparations. A drink made with sliced ginger cooked in water with brown sugar or a cola is used as a folk medicine for the common cold. "Ginger eggs" (scrambled eggs with finely diced ginger root) is a common home remedy for coughing.
In Congo, ginger is crushed and mixed with mango tree sap to make tangawisi juice, which is considered a panacea.
In India, ginger is applied as a paste to the temples to relieve headache, and consumed when suffering from the common cold. Ginger with lemon and black salt is also used for nausea.
In Indonesia, ginger (jahe in Indonesian) is used as a herbal preparation to reduce fatigue, reducing "winds" in the blood, prevent and cure rheumatism and control poor dietary habits.
In Nepal, ginger is called aduwa, अदुवा and is widely grown and used throughout the country as a spice for vegetables, used medically to treat cold and also sometimes used to flavor tea.
In the Philippines, ginger is known as luya and is used as a throat lozenge in traditional medicine to relieve sore throat. It is also brewed into a tea known as salabat.
In the United States, ginger is used to prevent motion and morning sickness. It is recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration and is sold as an unregulated dietary supplement. Ginger water was also used to avoid heat cramps in the United States.
In Peru, ginger is sliced in hot water as an infusion for stomach aches as infusión de Kión

The exotic , spicy and lemony taste of NAFI'S Ginger/LemonGrass , is a joy, and a good deed for both your taste buds and your health. Indulge and feel great!

Lemongrass

We already know there is more to Lemon Grass, than its Mosquitoe fighting power...Lemongrass is a well known and loved ingredient in Thai food and other East asian cuisines. It also commonly used in teas, soups, and curries. Italso works wonders in poultry, fish, beef, and seafood recipes. Many African countries such as Togo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo use lemongrass as teas, and in Latin American countries such as Mexico.

Lemongrass oil is used as a pesticide and a preservative. Research shows that lemongrass oil has anti-fungal properties.

"Citronella grass"Cymbopogon nardus and Cymbopogon winterianus) is similar to the species above but grows to 2 m and has red base stems. These species are used for the production of citronella oil, which is used in soaps, as an insect repellent in insect sprays and candles, and also in aromatherapy, which is famous in Bintan Island, Indonesia. The principal chemical constituents of citronella, geraniol and citronellol, are antiseptics, hence their use in household disinfectants and soaps. Besides oil production, citronella grass is also used for culinary purposes, in tea and as a flavoring.

Lemon Grass Oil, used as a pesticide and preservative, is put on the ancient palm-leaf manuscripts found in India as a preservative. It is used at the Oriental Research Institute Mysore, the French Institute of Pondicherry, the Association for the Preservation of the Saint Thomas Christian Heritage in Kerala and many other manuscript collections in India. The lemon grass oil also injects natural fluidity into the brittle palm leaves and the hydrophobic nature of the oil keeps the manuscripts dry so that the text is not lost to decay due to humidity.

East-Indian Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus), also called Cochin Grass or Malabar Grass (Malayalam: (inchippullu), is native to Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Burma,and Thailand while the West-Indian lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), also known as serai in Malay, is assumed to have its origins in Malaysia. Indonesian people used to called it serai too or sereh. While both can be used interchangeably, C. citratus is more suited for cooking. In IndiaC. citratus is used both as a medical herb and in perfumes. Cymbopogon citratus is consumed as a tea for anxiety in Brazilian folk medicine, but a study in humans found no effect. The tea caused a recurrence of contact dermatitis in one case.

Lemon grass is also known as Gavati Chaha (गवती चहा) in the Marathi language (Gavat=grass; Chaha=tea), and is used as an addition to tea, and in preparations like 'kadha,' which is a traditional herbal 'soup' used against coughs, colds, etc. It has medicinal properties and is used extensively in Ayurvedic medicine. It is supposed to help with relieving cough and nasal congestion.

In Kerala, lemon grass is steeped as an herbal tea called "Chukku Kaapi", literally "dried ginger coffee".

[edit] Anti-carcinogenic properties

In 2006, a research team from the Ben Gurion University in Israel found that lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) caused apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells. Through in vitro studies, the researchers examined the effect of citral, a molecule found in lemon grass, on both normal and cancerous cells. Using concentrations of citral equivalent to the quantity in a cup of tea (one gram of lemon grass in hot water), the researchers observed that citral induces programmed cell death in the cancerous cells, while the normal cells were left unharmed."

Great news under the sun!..Soups and Stews will amaze you with NAFI'S Ginger/Lemon Grass as a base, or simply added to the finished product.

We are all striving for better health, working actively on it, or just contemplating the idea!...Let's just act, and start by using what nature gave us so generously, use it wisely and spread the word!..More third world countries have embraced their heritage in matter of natural & local products and natural resources. Relative poverty hurts people so much more when they reject their own local natural riches for the elusive and highly processed ones of more"developed "countries.

It is true in matters of nutrition but also in matters of traditional remedies.

Let's honor our Earth, there resides our joy and our peace!...

Be well.

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Ginger & lemon grass