If you could only keep one health ingredient in your kitchen, many people would choose ginger.

It’s cheap. It’s common. Every kitchen has it. But what it does is far from ordinary.

TCM says ginger is “warm in nature.” It’s the go-to remedy for “cold.” When do you need ginger?

After getting caught in rain or wind. Your body feels cold. You start sneezing. Your throat feels tight. Slice a few pieces of ginger, add two or three red dates, boil them into a soup, and drink it while hot. You’ll slowly warm up. The cold gets pushed out. This is the simplest way to treat the very beginning of a cold.

When your stomach feels cold. You ate something raw or cold. Your stomach feels chilly. You feel like throwing up. No appetite. Slice a few pieces of ginger and steep them in hot water like tea. Ginger warms your stomach and settles that nauseous feeling.

Menstrual pain. Many women’s period pain comes from “cold in the womb” — the uterus is too cold. Brown sugar ginger tea is a classic remedy: slice ginger, add brown sugar, boil in water, and drink it warm. Your lower belly warms up, and the pain eases.

Motion sickness. Before a trip, slice a piece of ginger and tape it to your belly button, or hold it in your mouth. Many people say this works better than motion sickness pills, with no side effects.

What’s the best way to use ginger? Boiling it into tea is better than eating it raw. Morning is better than night. There’s an old saying: “Ginger in the morning is better than ginseng soup. Ginger at night is worse than arsenic.” That’s an exaggeration, but the idea is right — morning energy rises, and ginger helps it. At night, energy should settle down, but ginger stirs it up.

One warning: if you have a red, swollen throat, a fever, or mouth sores — these are signs of “heat.” Don’t use ginger. Ginger is warm. Adding warmth to heat makes things worse.

Ginger isn’t magic. It’s just a root. But in the right hands and at the right time, it’s the best medicine.