Shoga

Fresh ginger, or shoga, is one of the oldest, most universal ingredients and dried root ginger is widely available all the year round. For Japanese cooking, however, only fresh ginger is used and often only the extracted juice. In addition to shoga, (root ginger), so-called ha-shoga (ginger shoot), and me-shoga (ginger sprout), are available in summer in Japan. Ginger shoot is picked young with the short stalks still attached to it, and ginger sprout is a whole ginger plant with a small young root at the bottom. Ginger is highly valued not only for cooking but also for its medicinal properties; it is believed to warm the body, help digestion and prevent motion sickness, for example. It is also available as pickled ginger slices in packets or jars.