| Ginger | |
|---|---|
| Color plate from Köhler's Medicinal Plants | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| clade: | Angiosperms |
| clade: | Monocots |
| clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Zingiberales |
| Family: | Zingiberaceae |
| Genus: | Zingiber |
| Species: | Z. officinale |
| Binomial name | |
| Zingiber officinale Roscoe 1807[1] |
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Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family (Zingiberaceae). Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal.
Ginger cultivation began in South Asia and has since spread to East Africa and the Caribbean.[2] It is sometimes called ginger root to distinguish it from other things that share the name ginger.
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The English name ginger comes from French: gingembre, Old English: gingifere, Medieval Latin: ginginer, Greek: zingiberis (ζιγγίβερις). Ultimately the origin is from Tamil: inji ver (இஞ்சி வேர்). The botanical term for root in Tamil is ver (வேர்), hence inji root or inji ver.[3]
Ginger produces clusters of white and pink flower buds that bloom into yellow flowers. Because of its aesthetic appeal and the adaptation of the plant to warm climates, ginger is often used as landscaping around subtropical homes. It is a perennial reed-like plant with annual leafy stems, about a meter (3 to 4 feet) tall.
Traditionally, the root is gathered when the stalk withers; it is immediately scalded, or washed and scraped, to kill it and prevent sprouting.
Ginger produces a hot, fragrant kitchen spice.[4]
Young ginger rhizomes 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. They can also be steeped in boiling water to make ginger tea, to which honey is often added; sliced orange or lemon fruit may also be added. Ginger can also be made into candy.
Mature ginger roots are fibrous and nearly dry. The juice from old ginger roots is extremely potent [5] and is often used as a spice in Indian recipes, and is a quintessential ingredient of Chinese, Korean, Japanese and many South Asian cuisines for flavoring dishes such as seafood or goat meat and vegetarian cuisine.
Ginger acts as a useful food preservative.[6]
Fresh ginger can be substituted for ground ginger at a ratio of 6 to 1, although the flavors of fresh and dried ginger are somewhat different. Powdered dry ginger root is typically used as a flavoring for recipes such as gingerbread, cookies, crackers and cakes, ginger ale, and ginger beer.
Candied ginger is the root cooked in sugar until soft, and is a type of confectionery.
Fresh ginger may be peeled before eating. For longer-term storage, the ginger can be placed in a plastic bag and refrigerated or frozen.
In Western cuisine, ginger is traditionally used mainly in sweet foods such as ginger ale, gingerbread, ginger snaps, parkin, ginger biscuits and speculaas. A ginger-flavored liqueur called Canton is produced in Jarnac, France. Green ginger wine is a ginger-flavored wine produced in the United Kingdom, traditionally sold in a green glass bottle. Ginger is also used as a spice added to hot coffee and tea.
India and Pakistan, ginger is called adrak in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, aad in Maithili, aadi in Bhojpuri, aada in Bengali, Adu in Gujarati, hashi shunti (ಹಸಿ ಶುಂಟಿ) in the Kannada, allam (అల్లం) in Telugu, inji (இஞ்சி) in Tamil and Malayalam, inguru (ඉඟුරු) in Sinhalese, alay in Marathi, and aduwa(अदुवा ) in Nepali. Fresh ginger is one of the main spices used for making pulse and lentil curries and other vegetable preparations. Fresh, as well as dried, ginger is used to spice tea and coffee, especially in winter. Ginger powder is also used in certain food preparations, particularly for pregnant or nursing women, the most popular one being katlu which is a mixture of gum resin, ghee, nuts, and sugar. Ginger is also consumed in candied and pickled form. In Bangladesh, ginger is finely chopped or ground into a paste to use as a base for chicken and meat dishes alongside shallot and garlic.
In Burma, ginger is called gyin. It is widely used in cooking and as a main ingredient in traditional medicines. It is also consumed as a salad dish called gyin-thot, which consists of shredded ginger preserved in oil, and a variety of nuts and seeds. In Indonesia, a beverage called wedang jahe is made from ginger and palm sugar. Indonesians also use ground ginger root, called jahe, as a common ingredient in local recipes. In Malaysia, ginger is called halia and used in many kinds of dishes, especially a soup. In the Philippines it is brewed into a tea called salabat. In Vietnam, the fresh leaves, finely chopped, can also be added to shrimp-and-yam soup (canh khoai mỡ) as a top garnish and spice to add a much subtler flavor of ginger than the chopped root.
In China, sliced or whole ginger root is often paired with savory dishes such as fish, and chopped ginger root is commonly paired with meat, when it is cooked. However, candied ginger is sometimes a component of Chinese candy boxes, and a herbal tea can also be prepared from ginger.
In Japan, ginger is pickled to make beni shoga and gari or grated and used raw on tofu or noodles. It is also made into a candy called shoga no satozuke. In the traditional Korean kimchi, ginger is finely minced and added to the ingredients of the spicy paste just before the fermenting process.
In the Caribbean, ginger is a popular spice for cooking, and making drinks such as sorrel, a seasonal drink made during the Christmas season. Jamaicans make ginger beer both as a carbonated beverage and also fresh in their homes. Ginger tea is often made from fresh ginger, as well as the famous regional specialty Jamaican ginger cake.
On the island of Corfu, Greece, a traditional drink called τσιτσιμπύρα (tsitsibira), a type of ginger beer, is made. The people of Corfu and the rest of the Ionian islands adopted the drink from the British, during the period of the United States of the Ionian Islands.
In Arabic, ginger is called zanjabil, and in some parts of the Middle East, ginger powder is used as a spice for coffee and for milk, as well. In Somaliland, ginger is called sinjibil, and is served in coffee shops in Egypt. In the Ivory Coast, ginger is ground and mixed with orange, pineapple and lemon to produce a juice called nyamanku. Ginger powder is used in hawaij, a spice mixture used mostly by Yemenite Jews for soups and coffee.
Preliminary research indicates that nine compounds found in ginger may bind to human serotonin receptors, which may explain ginger's extensive effects on the GI tract and suggesting a mechanism for its effects on anxiety.[7]
Ginger has been found to be more effective than placebo in multiple studies for treating nausea caused by seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy[8][9][10][11] though ginger was not found superior to placebo for pre-emptively treating post-operative nausea. These studies also show superiority of odansetron over ginger in the treatment of chemotherapy related nausea. Ginger is safe for use during pregnancy.[12] The television program Mythbusters performed an antidotal experiment using one of their staff who suffered from severe motion sickness. Multiple treatments were administered; ginger as well as over-the-counter motion sickness aids were found to be effective over placebo.
Ginger compounds are active against a form of diarrhea which is the leading cause of infant death in developing countries. Zingerone is likely to be the active constituent against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin-induced diarrhea.[8][13]
Ginger has been claimed to decrease the pain from arthritis, though studies have been inconsistent. It may also have blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease.[14]
Advanced glycation end-products are possibly associated in the development of several pathophysiologies, including diabetic cataract for which ginger was effective in preliminary studies, apparently by acting through antiglycating mechanisms.[15][16][17]
The characteristic odor and flavor of ginger is caused by a mixture of zingerone, shogaols and gingerols, volatile oils that compose one to three percent of the weight of fresh ginger. In laboratory animals, the gingerols increase the motility of the gastrointestinal tract and have analgesic, sedative, antipyretic and antibacterial properties.[18] Ginger oil has been shown to prevent skin cancer in mice[12] and a study at the University of Michigan demonstrated that gingerols can kill ovarian cancer cells.[19][20][21] [6]-gingerol (1-[4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl]-5-hydroxy-3-decanone) is the major pungent principle of ginger. The chemopreventive potentials of [6]-gingerol present a promising future alternative to expensive and toxic therapeutic agents.[22]
Ginger contains up to three percent of a fragrant essential oil whose main constituents are sesquiterpenoids, with (-)-zingiberene as the main component. Smaller amounts of other sesquiterpenoids (β-sesquiphellandrene, bisabolene and farnesene) and a small monoterpenoid fraction (β-phelladrene, cineol, and citral) have also been identified.
The pungent taste of ginger is due to nonvolatile phenylpropanoid-derived compounds, particularly gingerols and shogaols, which form from gingerols when ginger is dried or cooked. Zingerone is also produced from gingerols during this process; this compound is less pungent and has a spicy-sweet aroma.[23] Ginger is also a minor chemical irritant, and because of this was used as a horse suppository by pre-World War I mounted regiments for feaguing.
Ginger has a sialagogue action, stimulating the production of saliva, which makes swallowing easier.
The traditional medical form of ginger historically was called Jamaica ginger; it was classified as a stimulant and carminative and used frequently for dyspepsia, gastroparesis, slow motility symptoms, constipation, and colic. It was also frequently employed to disguise the taste of medicines.[24]
Tea brewed from ginger is a common folk remedy for colds. Ginger ale and ginger beer are also drunk as stomach settlers in countries where the beverages are made.
100g of Ginger contains the following nutritional information according to the USDA:[28]
Ginger is on the FDA's "generally recognized as safe" list, though it does interact with some medications, including warfarin. Ginger is contraindicated in people suffering from gallstones, as it promotes the production of bile.[24]
An acute overdose of ginger is usually in excess of about 2 grams of ginger per kilogram of body mass,[29] dependent on level of ginger tolerance, and can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called ginger intoxication or colloquially the "ginger gitters".
Allergic reactions to ginger generally result in a rash, and although generally recognized as safe, ginger can cause heartburn, bloating, gas, belching and nausea, particularly if taken in powdered form. Unchewed fresh ginger may result in intestinal blockage, and individuals who have had ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease or blocked intestines may react badly to large quantities of fresh ginger.[30] Ginger can also adversely affect individuals with gallstones.[14][30] There are also suggestions that ginger may affect blood pressure, clotting, and heart rhythms.[30]
Products in Taiwan made from Hebo Natural Products Limited (禾博天然產物有限公司) of China contained ginger contaminated with DIBP, some 80,000 nutritional supplement capsules made with imported ginger powder were seized by the Public Health Department of Taiwan in June 2011.[31]
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. The plant also contains aristolochic acid, a carcinogenic compound.
| Top ten ginger producers — 11 June 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Production (tonnes) | |||
| India | 380,100 | |||
| China | 331,393 | |||
| Indonesia | 192,500 | |||
| Nepal | 174,268 | |||
| Thailand | 170,125 | |||
| Nigeria | 152,106 | |||
| Bangladesh | 72,608 | |||
| Japan | 52,000 | |||
| Philippines | 27,415 | |||
| Cameroon | 12,000 | |||
| World | 1,615,974 | |||
From 1585, Jamaican ginger was the first oriental spice to be grown in the New World and imported back to Europe.[32] India, with over 30% of the global share, now leads in global production of ginger, replacing China, which has slipped to the second position (~20.5%), followed by Indonesia (~12.7%), Nepal (~11.5%) and Thailand (~10%).
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