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Origins
Ginger has a long history as both a food and a medicine throughout Asia and Europe going back 3000 years. Ginger is mentioned by Confucius (551-478 BC), and in the Koran, and those of Medieval Europe thought it came from the Garden of Eden. A 3rd century BCE essay "Seeking the Root of Sapors" claims that Shang dynasty
rulers--all the way back in the 8th to 12th centuries BC--had already pinpointed the place in the Sichuan region where the finest ginger in the world grew. Then, some 2500 years later in 13th century AD, Marco Polo recorded seeing vast plantations devoted to growing it in Northern China . Arabian traders took it to them by way of India and the Red Sea . By the 11th century AD, it was a common trade article from the East to Europe .
Ginger was well-known to the Greeks and Romans, who used it extensively. It was assumed by them to be a product of southern Arabia, and was received by them by way of the Red Sea; in India it has also been known from a very remote period, the Greek and Latin names being derived from the Sanskrit. So frequent is the mention of ginger in similar lists during the middle ages, that it evidently constituted an important item in the commerce between Europe and the East. Ginger seems to have been well known in England even before the Norman Conquest in 1066--likely brought by Roman soldiers--and it grew in popularity so that by the 14th century it was put on wealthy dinner tables as an all-purpose seasoning. It was so highly coveted that a pound of it cost the same as a whole sheep. Shakespeare refers to it in dried formed as a "race" (from the Portuguese/Spanish 'raices', meaning root), whence our word "racy." It was very common in the 13th and 14th centuries, ranking next in value to pepper. The spice is said to have been introduced into America by Francisco de Mendoca, who took it from the East Indies to New Spain .
The Root
Ginger is a tropical species native to Asia , known by its scientific name as Zingiber Officinale. The Zingiber genus includes a great number of plant species, of which about 80 are aromatic. Some of these are Australian natives, but the plant we normally think of as edible ginger is Asian. The part of the plant used is the rhizome, or underground stem. This is a clump of flattish hand like shapes with slim roots growing downwards from it, and the leaf-bearing stems growing upwards above the ground. The flowers are at the base of the plant, hidden by the leaves. While not as spectacular as some of the ornamental gingers, they are nevertheless very beautiful, though hard to see. Ginger is planted each year in August/September using the best of the previous year's crop. It takes about nine months to reach maturity. Following the appearance of the flowers, the tops begin to die, leaving the ginger rhizomes ready to harvest. The large clumps are broken up into smaller "hands" before packing.
Ginger is known in commerce in two distinct forms, termed respectively coated and uncoated ginger. For the first, the pieces are washed and simply dried in the sun. In this form the ginger presents a brown, more or less irregularly wrinkled surface, and when broken shows a dark brownish fracture, hard, and sometimes horny and resinous. To produce uncoated ginger the rhizomes are washed, scraped and sun-dried, and are often subjected to a system of bleaching. The whitewashed appearance that much of the ginger has, as seen in the shops, is due to the fact of its being washed in whiting and water, or even coated with lime. This artificial coating is supposed by some to give the ginger a better appearance; it often, however, covers an inferior quality, and can readily be detected by the ease with which it rubs off, or by its leaving a white powdery substance at the bottom of the jar in which it is contained.
Uses
The principal constituents of ginger are starch, volatile oil (to which the characteristic smell of the spice is due) and resin (to which is attributed its pungency). The roots, collected in a young green state, washed, scraped and preserved in syrup, form a delicious preserve, which is largely exported both from the West Indies and from China .
The fresh ginger root, sold in most supermarkets, can be frozen almost indefinitely--then hauled out whenever needed so you can grate the required amount before sticking the remaining root back in the freezer.
Jamaicans and early American settlers made beer from it; and today, natural ginger ales made with fresh ginger are available as a digestive tonic. These should not be confused with most commercial brands of ginger ale as these contain so little ginger that they are nothing more than sweetened soft drinks with no medicinal value.
The forerunner of modern gingerbread was apparently an ancient Greek digestive aid. They would follow a big meal with a piece of ginger wrapped in bread. Over time, the ginger was incorporated into the bread. When trade brought the spice to Europe , it became almost indispensable very quickly, and its use in confectionery was born. Here the Greek gingerbread evolved into a sugary cake that proved very popular.
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines developed using dried ginger, not fresh; because that's the only way it could arrive unspoiled after caravanning all the way from Asia and India over land and sea routes. In most cases, even when fresh became available, these cuisines stuck to tradition, using dried ginger by preference. The exception is Ethiopian cooking, but there's a reasonable chance that fresh ginger was possibly cultivated there in ancient times. |
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