Meet the neighbours · herb
Ginger
Not easy to grow on the prairies, but worth experimenting with in pots — and a kitchen friend beyond gingerbread.
Ginger is the warm, fragrant neighbour that is easy to love in the kitchen and tricky to please in the garden. Cindy has experimented with growing it in pots on the patio and bringing it indoors for the winter — not a guaranteed crop in Alberta, but a fun experiment.
It is widely used in both sweet baking and savoury cooking, and Cindy encourages making friends with it beyond just gingerbread and pumpkin desserts.
Health note: ginger is known to calm upset stomach, indigestion, motion sickness, and morning sickness by stimulating digestive enzymes.
How to grow it
- Start with a fresh, plump rhizome from the grocery store.
- Grow in a large pot so it can move indoors before frost.
- Likes warmth, humidity, and bright, indirect light — a sunny patio in summer and a bright window in winter.
How to use & eat it
- Ginger Honey: mix 2 cups honey with 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) ginger powder, stirred in gradually in a wide-mouth jar. Let sit for 2 weeks before using — great on toast or stirred into tea.
- Fresh Ginger Tea: steep sliced fresh ginger in hot water for 5 minutes, then add lemon.
- Ginger Water: steep sliced ginger in a jug of water, then chill.
- Ginger Lemonade: add grated fresh ginger to homemade lemonade and let it steep for 10 minutes.
Cook with it
- Rhubarb ChutneyA sweet-spicy rhubarb chutney with warm Indian spices — delicious over pork, beef, or chicken, and it fills the house with an amazing smell while it cooks.
- Rhubarb SlushA nostalgic frozen rhubarb drink Cindy grew up on, served at parties topped up with ginger ale.
- Rhubarb & Ginger JamWater-bath jam from the first thick stalks of the year.
- Carrot Ginger CakeMade using leftover carrot pulp from juicing — a great way to use up what would otherwise be wasted.