Ginger

This article refers to the plant species Zingiber officinale. For other "Ginger" articles, see Ginger (disambiguation).

? Zingiber officinale Conservation status: Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Zingiberales Family: Zingiberaceae Genus: Zingiber Species: Z. officinale
Binomial name
Zingiber officinale Roscoe

Ginger root is used extensively as a spice in many if not most cuisines of the world. Though called a root, it is actually the rhizome of the monocotyledonous perennial plant Zingiber officinale. The active constituent of fresh ginger is gingerol, a relative of capsaicin. When ginger is dried, the gingerol molecules are converted into the much more pungent shogaols. Cooking ginger transforms gingerol into zingerone, which is less pungent and has a spicy-sweet aroma.⁽¹⁾

25.4-pound ginger root

Culinary uses

Young ginger roots are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or just cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. Mature ginger roots are fibrous and nearly dry. The juice from old ginger roots is extremely potent and is often used as a spice in Chinese cuisine to cover up other strong odors and flavors such as in seafood and mutton.

Ginger is also made into candy, is used as a flavoring for cookies, biscuits and cake, and is the main flavor in ginger ale, a sweet, carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage. A ginger-flavored liqueur called Canton is produced in the Guangdong province of China; it is advertised to be based on a recipe created for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and made from six different varieties of ginger. Green ginger wine is produced in the United Kingdom traditionally Crabbie's and Stone's, in a green glass bottle.

In Japan, ginger is pickled to make beni shoga and gari or grated and used raw on tofu or noodles.

In Western cuisine, ginger is traditionally restricted to sweet foods, such as ginger ale, gingerbread, ginger snaps (a type of cookie), ginger cake and ginger biscuits.

Powdered dry ginger is used to add spiciness to gingerbread and other recipes. It tastes quite different from fresh ginger, and neither can be substituted for the other.

Ginger has a sialagogue action, stimulating the production of saliva.

Economics and distribution

Ginger is grown throughout the tropical areas of the world. The most expensive and highest quality varieties generally come from Australia, South India, and Jamaica, while most mass market ginger is grown in China.

Medicinal uses

Medical research has shown that ginger root is an effective treatment for nausea caused by motion sickness or other illness. Although very effective against all forms of nausea, PDR health officials do not recommend taking ginger root for morning sickness commonly associated with pregnancy. Ginger root also contains many antioxidants. Powdered dried ginger root is made into pills for medicinal use. Chinese women traditionally eat ginger root during pregnancy to combat morning sickness. Ginger ale and ginger beer have been recommended as "stomach settlers" for generations in countries where the beverages are made. Ginger water was commonly used to avoid heat cramps in the United States in the past.

The chacteristic odor and flavor of ginger root is caused by a mixture of zingerone, shoagoles and gingerols, volatile oils that compose about 1%–3% by weight of fresh ginger. The gingerols have analgesic, sedative, antipyretic, antibacterial, and GI tract motility effects.

Ginger is on the GRAS list from FDA.

Other uses

Some members of the BDSM community employ "figging" as part of their repertoire, which features the genital application (typically insertion) of peeled ginger root to create a warming sensation.

Some equestrians have used the technique of "gingering" on their horses. Gingering is inserting ginger into the anus of the horse and produces what some consider a desirable lifting of the tail for horse shows. This action is produced by irritating the tissues of the anus which makes lowering the tail uncomfortable for the horse. This technique is almost universally prohibited in modern equestrian events as it is considered cruel to the horse.

Gardening

Flowers of the ginger plant

Ginger produces clusters of white and pink flower buds that bloom into yellow flowers. Because of the aesthetic appeal, and the adaptivity of the plant to warm climates, ginger is often used as landscaping around subtropical homes.

Similar species

Myoga (Zingiber mioga Roscoe) appears in Japanese cuisine; the flower buds are the part eaten.

Another plant in the Zingiberaceae family, galangal, is used for similar purposes as ginger in Thai cuisine. Galangal is also called Thai ginger. Also referred to as galangal, Fingerroot (Boesenbergia rotunda), or Chinese ginger or the Thai krachai, is used in cooking and medicine.

A dicotyledonous native species of eastern North America, Asarum canadense, is also known as "wild ginger", and its root has similar aromatic properties, but it is not related to true ginger and should not be used as a substitute because it contains the carcinogen aristolochic acid. This plant is also a powerful diuretic, or urinary stimulator. It is part of the Aristolochiaceae family.

Trivia

In the Harry Turtledove alternate-history series Worldwar and Colonization, as well as the followup novel Homeward Bound, ginger proves to have a narcotic effect on the alien invaders known as The Race, as males and females find they can enter into sexual frenzy outside their normal mating season while under the influence of ginger. This leads to massive disruptions to the Lizards' societal structures on Earth (known to The Race as Tosev 3). As a result, a significant black market demand for ginger develops throughout the Race's interstellar empire, and humans are only too happy to supply said demand.

See also

• Jake

External link

• http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Zing_off.html
• http://www.leathernroses.com/generalbdsm/figging.htm

Notes

"Ginger" can also be used as a slang to describe red-headed people.

Note (1): McGee, Harold (2004). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (2nd ed.). New York: Scribner pp. 425-426.