Ginger

"Luya" or "luy-a", a fragrant spice of a root crop family, has been used as a medicine in Asian, Indian and Arabic herbal traditions since ancient times. Ginger contains up to 3% of an essential oil that causes the fragrance of the spice. "Salabat", the Filipino version of the powdered ginger tea is said to be a good help to common cough and colds, and a relief to hoarseness. In addition to its medicinal uses, ginger continues to be valued around the world as an important cooking spice and is believed to help the common cold, flu-like symptoms, headaches, and even painful menstrual periods.

You can just wash the ginger in cold water before using it without even peeling it, especially if you are just gonna need a minimal ginger flavor. You can crush it, add it to the concoction and can just remove it after about 2-3 minutes. But if you are using it together with the dish, here is one tip that you can use. It's fairly hard to peel a ginger, admit it. What you can do is just to slowly slide the knife on its skin, not to "really" peel it. A peeler can come in handy but you might find it a little hard to do the curves. So just slide the knife from top to tip putting a little pressure, then just slice it to your preferred size. One can crush it for a more fragrant and spicy taste.