So, what's wrong with ginger - Is it a spice or an herb?

So, what's wrong with ginger - Is it a spice or an herb?

Although most kitchen spice cabinets contain a jar of ground ginger, it is usually considered a spice and you wouldn't think of adding ginger herb to a recipe, you would add ginger spice. Ginger spices are added to ginger snaps, ginger bread, ginger ale, ginger chicken and ginger pumpkin cheesecake. Face it, the spice “ginger” is called for in many recipes. So is ginger a spice or an herb? Ginger is a spice. . . and. . . a herb.

Herbs, by definition, are the leafy parts of plants and shrubs that are used to flavor foods, for medicinal applications, or for the oil essences harvested for personal care products. An example of an herb would be the leaf parts of ginger, parsley, rosemary, lavender and coriander. Spices are harvested from flowers, seeds, bark or roots of plants or trees. Examples would be; Cinnamon (bark), coriander (seeds of the coriander plant), cloves, saffron and ginger root. Your eyes don't deceive you - I've listed ginger among examples of spices and herbs. Coriander is also a hybrid, the leaves of the plant are by definition an herb and the seed of the plant is a spice called coriander. Cilantro really confused me when I first started growing herbs. I looked for coriander seeds in the nursery. When I finally asked the clerk for help, I received a seed packet with "cilantro seeds" written in bold on the top of the packet and a beautiful picture of a healthy cilantro herb plant on the bottom. This incident prompted me to purchase a book on herb gardening for the first time.

Terminology between classifying herbs or spices has become largely interchangeable depending on their culinary use, according to the American Spice Trade Association. Plants, seeds, and roots used for medicinal properties are commonly referred to as “herbs.” Ground herbs used in cooking applications require “seasoning.” Still confused? Maybe this example will help. Ground ginger (spice) is used for baking cookies. Ginger root (herb) is steeped in boiled water for tea, which is used medicinally.

However, ginger is an extremely versatile herb for medicinal purposes. Ginger root can be used to chew to relieve nausea (motion sickness). It can be steeped in teas to relieve chest congestion, relieve gas pain and bloating (crush root and add to baked beans), asthma, bronchitis, and the list goes on. Ginger is an extremely versatile spice for culinary applications. Dessert recipes, beers, soda flavors and this list goes on.

Herbs or spices, ginger is one of my favorites!