How To Make Ginger Tea _ The Goods _ CBC Life

Now that we're heading into chilly months, a nice ginger tea can be just the thing to keep those cold viruses at bay. So I'm going to show you how to make it from scratch with just a couple of ingredients. And I know you love ginger. I love ginger. Let's get into it. So guys, ginger, a totally trendy ingredient these days because it has so many great advantages. So ginger is one of those ingredients that naturally will help you fight a cold. It also keeps your metabolism up. Helps with headaches. Helps with bloating. With bloating, digestion. It's anti-inflammatory, so it's a natural pain reliever. And it's really inexpensive. Super inexpensive. And I also like because if you want a little bit for a recipe, like this tea recipe, you can just kind of, you know, weigh it. Go for it. Can I ask you this? So is it true to say that these smaller ones are sweeter, whatever, and these larger ones over here, are they more fibrous and old? Well, you know what, it's not about size per se, Stephen, but sometimes you'll see ginger that is denser, harder, smooth. Right. That means it's fresh. Okay. And if you see in the grocery store, sometimes it's more pliable, wrinkly, soft. Not as fresh. Go for it. So go for the firm ginger, and that will keep in the fridge for up to a month, and it even freezes well. Okay. Really, really great. Sometimes also you can go for powdered ginger. Okay. So that's what I use in dry rubs, marinades, gravies. Okay. Great for baking, ginger snaps, cakes. Right. So go for the powder stuff if you're doing that. And then... And then your favorites. My favorite here. We've got the fresh ginger shots that we do at lunchtime, and I make Shahir drink them. They're horrible. Yeah, well... They're horrible. But there's great... After a large lunch, you get a little bit kind of bloated or whatever. It works. And it boosts your energy, which is fantastic. But the funny thing is we just learned that we all need humor in our life. Yeah. He uncontrollably hiccups, and it makes me laugh so much. I can't talk. And I make him drink, and he's like, don't make me do this, and I make him drink it. I'm like, before we come out here, you make me do one, and I do. But it is spicy, but it clears you up. So if you have a knobby piece of fresh ginger like this, Stephen, it can be difficult to peel. Sure. So a little trick, you go with your spoon. You see? And you can get around these knobby kind of pieces, right? Just like that. It smells great. Already you can smell the fresh ginger. If you're making the ginger tea, though, Shahir, do we need to peel it really? I mean, you know... Not really, because in this application, we are just going to steep water with the fresh ginger, with lemon, with honey. And then you can take it out. So even if you have a little bit of skin, like I left it kind of rustic like that, it's not a problem. So you just make some slices. Also, one quick question. So you know sometimes you see in a grocery store, you see this stuff like in jars, like the garlic. Yeah. It's in jars already chopped. Is that, are the benefits still there? I don't think so, because sometimes they put preservatives in that. Okay, good point. And you'll see, if you look at the ingredient listing, you'll see sulfate, blah, blah, blah. So go fresh. Even get smaller pieces. Sometimes I'll peel and mince ginger and freeze it like that. So I always have it on hand. That's a good point. Because guys, how many great meals start with onion, garlic, and ginger? Yeah. And then the world is your oyster, right? Exactly. So little coins, little coins. You want smaller shapes so that you can kind of steep it quicker. So I've got water, some ginger, fresh honey, and I want to go natural with my sweeteners. Yeah, good point. Use maple syrup if you have. Yeah. But fresh honey is also great. Never sugars or anything like that. Cane sugar even is nice. A little bit like that. And how long are we going to steep this for? This will steep, honestly, because we cut it so small, 10, 15 minutes. Yeah. A little bit of lemon. And it kind of just sort of opens up all your airways. 100%. It's fantastic. It just opens up. And this also will open everything up. A little bit of cayenne. A little bit. Start adding those to your shots. Yeah. It's spicy enough, man. Yeah, no, it'll be funny. Spicy enough. It'll be really funny then. And cayenne is one of those ingredients that just wakes everything up. If you're feeling stuffed up and we're getting into winter, a little bit of cayenne, but not too much. Can I make a big vat of this and throw it in the fridge? Or would you say just keep it going fresh? I would keep it going. I would keep it going fresh for all these reasons. Also, the steam will wake things up and kind of declutter. This is great to make fresh. Take 10 minutes. Yeah, yeah, you're not wrong. And the color of the water, it's even like a golden color. Exactly. You know, it's quite beautiful. Exactly. And that's what you're looking for. So, again, this will take even 10 or 15 minutes. Now, the choice is yours, Stephen. You can leave the ginger in your tea or you can kind of strain it out. Can you eat it like this now? I guess it's just boiled ginger, right? It's really just boiled ginger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could. Yeah. Might be spicy. We got some cayenne in there. I should make you eat one of these. Yeah, totally, yeah. You can strain it out. And then what we should do, we should have a taste. Yeah. We should have a taste. So, let's ladle some in. I think before we have a taste of here, maybe we should have a shot. Should we have a shot, guys? Yeah. The talking part of today is over. Cheers, my friend. There we go. You're mean. It's really good. It is a spicy meatball. It is. It's very spicy. But, you know, it feels great. And the benefits you could... Oh, God. Cheers. Cheers, bro. Do you love food? Do you love me? If you said yes to both of these things, you're in luck. And if you said yes to one of these things, shame on you. I'm adorable. Hit subscribe right now for new and exciting recipes, trends and much more, especially from me.