Ginger shot – effects and tips for making your own

• Ginger shot – effect on the immune system
• More reasons why ginger shots are considered healthy
• Are ginger shots healthy? Ingredients for health and well-being
• What’s in a ginger shot?
• Making your own ginger shot – simple and inexpensive

It must be emphasised that no scientific studies have been conducted on humans to determine the specific effect of ginger shots on the entire complex of the immune system. So even if the marketing claims such as “a miracle cure for colds” have not been proven yet, ginger shots are beneficial to our health. That’s because ginger has antiviral, antibacterial and antioxidant properties. These factors can therefore help prevent colds and, above all, support the immune system in fighting bacterial infections. The pungent substances gingerol and shogaol, which are highly concentrated in ginger, also have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Ginger shots are often advertised as having a high vitamin C content, which can support our immune system. It is often not the ginger itself that is responsible for the high level of this vitamin in the shot, but the other ingredients of the drink, such as acerola, orange, sea buckthorn or lemon. Just keep in mind that your daily vitamin C requirement can easily be met by a variety of vegetables – just one red pepper a day is enough to replenish your vitamin C reserves. Fresh ginger – and hence ginger shots – also contain minerals such as potassium, calcium and iron. The potassium content of 415 mg per 100 g of fresh ginger is particularly high compared to other minerals. Potassium has the property of regulating the acid-base balance. Potassium also has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system and can lower blood pressure. One ginger shot meets approximately 10 percent of your daily requirement. Other foods that contain potassium include dried apricots, cashew nuts, hazelnuts and almonds.

Not all ginger shots are created equal. That’s because: the market offers a variety of different shots in these small bottles. In general though, all the shots consist of a mixture made from pieces of ginger and ginger juice, as well as other, often sweetened fruit juices, as ginger on its own is too spicy to drink. For instance, the ginger is often mixed with apple or orange juice. This makes up about half to three quarters of the bottle’s content. However, take note of the sugar content on the innocuous-looking bottles – you will be surprised! That’s because Some ginger shots have more sugar in them than cola does. This is due to the high fructose content of the juices. Some shots even have sugar in the form of agave nectar added to them. It’s best to avoid these ones, if possible.

You should rather opt for cold-pressed ginger shots, as these usually contain more of the pungent substances and nutrients. The more pungent the ginger shot, the fresher the ginger used!

1. Wash the ginger and turmeric. Ideally, you should use organic ginger and turmeric so that the peel can also be used. However, if the ginger is not very fresh, you should peel it, as the peel would otherwise give the shot a bitter taste. If you use conventionally grown ginger and turmeric, here is our tip: the skin can be easily removed with the edge of a spoon.

2. Cut the ginger root into pieces about 1 cm in size. Then squeeze out the juice from two medium-sized oranges and mix this with the ginger and turmeric pieces using an immersion blender for one minute on the highest power setting.

3. Then press the mixture through a clean towel. The residue left in the towel can be easily reused to brew an aromatic tea.

4. Sweeten the ginger shot with natural ingredients such as a small apple. You can chop these into small pieces and purée them with the filtered fruit juice. If you want to increase the potassium content of your ginger shot, add dried apricots and blend again. The dried apricots can give the spicy drink a sweet flavour with a hint of caramel.

One ginger shot (40 ml) contains 15 mg of vitamin C. The homemade version is not only incredibly tasty, but also contains almost a third more of the pungent compounds than the commercial variants! Your shots will keep for up to four days in the normal refrigeration compartment of your Liebherr fridge-freezer! Would you like to create the shots in advance? Then freeze the ginger shots in your Liebherr fully integrated freezer – an ice cube tray is ideal for this, allowing you to have your ginger shots readily available in small quantities. You can also use the immune-boosting cubes to flavour other drinks. Have fun giving it a go!