What have you people done!?!? I know that candied ginger is big among the sea kayaking community for sea sickness relief, but, truly, you people need to stop! My wife just got back from a visit to Amish country here in Ohio and brought some back with her. If I say that she brought it back like a fat lamprey attached to her throat, you will get an idea of how detestable this stuff is. The taste is so vile that seasickness has no room in you to take hold, so maybe it does work. NOT WORTH IT! I’ll take some vomiting anytime over that taste. Anyway, enjoy your horrible life choices.
Sure sounds good… Candied anything sounds good. Thanks for the warning.
Never heard of it.
Jeez. I like the stuff. I like preserved ginger from the asian markets even more. Grew up eating it instead of candy.
Different strokes.
@Chodups said:
Jeez. I like the stuff. I like preserved ginger from the asian markets even more. Grew up eating it instead of candy.Different strokes.
Me too. Crystallized ginger is great in cookies. Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Snaps are awesome!
Maybe it’s the Amish. The stuff from the Asia section from Harris Teeter is pretty good.
(I’d eat horse shit if it kept me from getting seasick… well maybe a little… with some seasoning.)
String, the stuff works for seasick prevention. Start dosing yourself the day before and then the morning of your ‘active water’ day and you don’t get that awful condition.
Dramamine doesn’t taste any better.
I like Asian ginger candies, both the jelly blocks and the natural dried ginger pieces.
They sure beat the taste of puke. As Rex said, even horse apples would be better than getting sick.
Is sea sickness fairly common among paddlers? I’ve gotten to feeling odd on smooth reflective water in the past but never on active water.
We use to be able to buy Scopolamine capsules over the counter at the dive shops in the 80’s. Then they made it by scrip. Hard to keep the little patches on underwater but it really works on the boats. You can cut them in half if you don’t need a full dose.
Hey Chodups, Before I learned about the ginger I got pretty queezy several times. I’ve been around some paddlers who got way past queezy. I’d say it’s not uncommon among paddlers on big, active water.
@Chodups said:
Is sea sickness fairly common among paddlers? I’ve gotten to feeling odd on smooth reflective water in the past but never on active water.
interesting, good question.
From those I’ve paddled with, I’ve only known one who said he got sea sick (mentioning cruises he’d been on).
He’s a competant paddler, so don’t think it has anything to do with skill level.
I have a bit of a fear of heights (dad had it also), that’s why I prefer a sport at sea level (+/- a few feet).
(the only reason I get ‘feeling odd’ on smooth reflective water - is because the sharks below detect my presence easier)
The only time I’ve been sea sick there was some involvement with diesel fumes or adult beverages before hand.
Taste is completely subjective and individual. In fact, so called “super-tasters” can detect chemicals in flavors that most people can’t. It’s genetic – an ex of mine was working on his PhD in Physical Anthropology and part of the genetic trait survey kit was strips of paper impregnated with specific substances to see if people could taste them or not on various regions of their tongues. I found out from being one of his survey “guinea pigs” that I can sense a few of those chemicals outside the “normal” spectrum of tastes – it is usually compounds in the bitterness range that are detectable by “super tasters”. Though I like ginger very much (so I must not be sensitive to anything in that), there are compounds in bell peppers (but not any other peppers) and in licorice and anise that taste to me like roofing tar smells and I can’t tolerate anything containing the slightest amount of those flavorings. So it may well be that the OP picks up something the rest of us can’t in ginger.
I’ve found ginger to be a godsend in nausea control – had to take some meds years ago that always triggered nausea but if I stirred a teaspoon of ground ginger into a glass of water and downed it beforehand I had no problem. And I when crossed Lake Michigan in the big funky diesel ferry during rough weather some years ago I’d have been hanging over the railing with the rest of the projectile vomiters if it had not been for ginger candies.
Crystallized ginger is YUMMEEEEE!! It is the amount of sugar in the stuff that is concerning!
Willowleaf is right 'bout me; due to a brain injury, I don’t smell very well. Perhaps that is what I am reacting to (like many people who lost most of their sense of smell, I am over reactive to lime and some other things). For the sake of your taste buds, I hope it’s me and not you if you have to take this stuff!
@raisins said:
(the only reason I get ‘feeling odd’ on smooth reflective water - is because the sharks below detect my presence easier)
No worries you sold the shark bait boat.
Ginger goes well when cooked with carrots and butter.
Ginger is also an anti-inflammatory. Maybe I’ll start munching on it during a long paddle. 
I like crystallized ginger. Kilocalories stupid quite tasty. I eat it just because I like it.