This is not a blog about the spice girls just incase you were thinking maybe its not another food blog. I have to say that i love ginger, ginger tea, ginger in marinades, ginger in dressing, I will share what i know about ginger. Ginger has been used in cookery since ancient times, its well known for its ability to relieve nausea, stomach pain and digestive issues. It is full of antioxidants that can help with inflammation, arthritis and studies suggest that it has the potential to reduce the risk of cancer and diabetes. Ginger contains an enzyme called zingibain which may help increase movement through the digestive tract. The proteolytic enzyme has the ability to break down long chain proteins into smaller peptides or even into amino acids. SO how to get the best out of ginger, I like to use it as a marinade when i am making stir fry. Taking something like rump of beef and marinating it in ginger will help to tenderise the meat. If you take rump steak and cut into even size strips, remove all the of the connective tissue and fat that you can not easily eat, then take a good 50 gram piece of ginger, often i do not even bother peeling my ginger, some coriander, chilli, and place into a liquidiser with a enough olive oil to to blend it all into a fine paste, marinate the beef and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or over night for best results. You can play around with the marinade by adding sesame oil, lemongrass, lime leaves or zest, soy or really hot chilli, its up to your preferences. If salads are your thing you can use ginger as a great dressing with amazing warmth to it, great for a Thai beef salad, grate a good thumb size piece of ginger add it to a small sauce pan with 150 ml of olive oil, place on a medium heat until the ginger begins to sizzle, be careful its seriously hot oil, leave to cook for one minute then take off the heat and leave to cool. Place the oil and ginger into a liquidiser and blend while drizzling in 50 ml of red wine vinegar and a table spoon of sesame oil, pass through a fine sieve and you have an amazing dressing. Give ginger a go next time you stir fry veggies simply add grated ginger in for the last minute of cooking it taste great, good for your digestion and can turn your cheaper cuts of meat so they are tender like fillet.