Do you prefer your ginger stir-fried, baked into sweet treats, or steeped into a comforting tea?

However you enjoy it, this versatile root is a kitchen staple for a reason. New ways to cook with it seem to appear every day, making it easy to reap its impressive health benefits.

But if you don’t want to whip up a ginger-infused dish or brew a cup of tea every time you feel under the weather, there’s a simple solution: make a homemade healing ginger syrup that keeps for weeks in the fridge and is ready when you need it.

Ginger’s Remarkable Healing Powers

Ginger is best known for its ability to soothe the stomach. It’s been used traditionally to treat nausea, motion sickness, morning sickness, gas, colic, and general digestive upset. But its benefits go far beyond that.

Research has shown that ginger can do much more than calm an upset stomach. It helps reduce aortic atherosclerotic lesions and can lower triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol levels. It also plays a role in suppressing cholesterol production in the body.

For people with diabetes, ginger may help increase glucose tolerance and boost insulin production. Scientists have also uncovered compounds in ginger that may help reduce the risk of colon cancer.