Shogayu: Japanese Ginger Tea to Prevent and Cure Colds
Winter is just around the corner here in Japan. Accordingly, it is getting colder day by day. Because of that, a cold is going around now, but fortunately, I haven’t caught it yet.
Yesterday, I went to a drugstore near my house to buy foodstuffs, where I saw a wide range of cold medicines on the shelves near the entrance. In addition to them, I noticed a seasonal product unique to Japan lined up there.
In Japan, the product is often offered in a big way during the chilly winter months, because it is effective in the treatment and prevention of the common cold.
Shoga-Yu (生姜湯: Japanese Ginger Tea)
Actually, what I came across at the entrance of the drugstore was the base powder of Japanese ginger tea called “Shoga Yu (生姜湯: literally meaning “hot ginger water” in Japanese)”.
Shogayu is a healthy tea familiar to us Japanese, which is often drunk for preventing and curing colds in the cold winter season, like the arrowroot tea “Kuzuyu (葛湯)“.
The majority of the bases of Shogayu come in powder form and are sold in many drugstores around the country during the wintertime.
How to Make Shogayu Tea (Easy Recipe)
It may be difficult to get Shogayu tea bases in countries outside Japan. But with the following recipe, you can easily make Japanese ginger tea at home.
Instructions
- Grate a small piece of ginger
- Put the grated ginger and some honey or black syrup together in a cup
- Pour boiling water into the cup and stir well with a teaspoon or the like
- Enjoy!
Additionally, some people like to add some Katakuriko potato starch to the cup to keep the body warm enough by thickening the tea.
Health Benefits
Ginger is a plant commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. As this indicates, the food is good for health with various benefits, which include
- Warming the body and boosting metabolism
- Making mushy, dirty blood into smooth and clean
- Enhancing the immune system by increasing the number of white blood cells
- Suppressing the symptom of coughing
- Activating digestive processes of the stomach
- Sterilizing bacteria
Since the base ingredient of Shogayu is ginger, you can see from the above that Japanese ginger tea is excellent in preventing and curing colds.
