The Herbal Almanac, one botanical at a time — #2 of 8.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
What it is
Ginger — Zingiber officinale, shēng jiāng (生姜) — needs no introduction in the kitchen. But long before it flavored your tea, aged ginger root was a bath herb: sliced into hot water for cold winter evenings and post-rain chills across southern China.
What tradition says
TCM counts ginger among the great warming, dispersing herbs — traditionally used to expel cold and dampness (逐寒湿) and to get things moving when the body feels stagnant and chilled. A ginger soak is the classic folk answer to cold feet, and the gentle heat you feel on your skin is exactly why people keep coming back to it.
Why it's in your bath
We use aged ginger — dried the traditional way, so its warmth is deeper and rounder than fresh root. In our Eight-Herb Foot-Soak Ball it works shoulder-to-shoulder with mugwort: mugwort warms the meridians, ginger drives out the chill.
→ Try it in the Eight-Herb Foot-Soak Ball · Shop all bath bombs
Traditional uses are shared for cultural and educational interest only. They are not medical advice, and our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.