The perennial herb, ginger, has many medicinal and culinary uses. You can buy fresh ginger root and dried powdered ginger, which have a pungent, spicy taste. Crystallized ginger is made from fresh ginger cooked in a sugar syrup, then coated with granulated sugar. This produces a crunchy, chewy, sweet and spicy treat.
Cooking
Add crystallized ginger to cookies or muffins to create pockets of extra spiciness. Or blend crystallized ginger into ice cream or cakes. You can make a sweet ginger tea by pouring boiling water over pieces of crystallized ginger and allowing it to steep.
Snacking
Crystallized ginger serves as a spicy, low-fat snack. You can also purchase chocolate covered ginger for an extra treat.
Postoperative Nausea
A study reported in the "British Journal of Anesthesia" in 2000 found that ginger performed better than placebo for treating postoperative nausea. One way to get this effect of ginger is to chew candied ginger.
Morning Sickness
The same British study found consuming ginger could reduce nausea due to morning sickness. Though any sort of ginger can effectively reduce nausea symptoms, candied ginger tastes better and it travels well. The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends pregnant women not use ginger for more than four days. They recommend 1 gram of ginger a day for four days.
Motion Sickness
Ginger also helps to reduce nausea due to motion sickness. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that some people experience a better effect from ginger than others, but chewing candied ginger offers an alternative to taking remedies that may cause dizziness, drowsiness or other side effects.
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