Marco Polo was the first European to write of actually finding ginger in China. In the middle Ages, when ginger first appeared in Europe, a pound of ginger could buy a sheep.
One of the earliest oriental spices known in the West, Ginger was particularly popular in medieval and Tudor times in England when it was valued equally as a medicinal and culinary spice. Gingerbread was a favorite treat, stamped with a pattern and often decorated with gold leaf. A medicinal cure all and a jack of all trades, it was a remedy against the plague, included in pomanders and potpourris to dispel odors and taken as a reputed aphrodisiac.
All forms of ginger derive from the root of the ginger plant. The dried root and powdered ginger have been traditionally used in European cookery for centuries, mainly in a wide variety of sweet dishes.

Countries of origin:
Probably native to south-eastern Asia; now grown commercially in all tropical countries including India, China, West Africa, Caribbean and Australia.

Types of ginger:
Green ginger - Widely available in supermarkets, Indian and oriental shops and town and city markets; Knobby ginger roots vary in shapes and size. Buff or pale-skinned varieties are superior to most darker-skinned types.

Dried ginger - Available as dark-skinned whole root or parboiled, skinned, bleached and limed; dried whole ginger is tough and fibrous.

Ground ginger - Beige-colored powder of dried ginger, widely available in proprietary spice brands.

Preserved or stem ginger - Young tender roots preserved in yellow-brown or red syrup, with concentrated spicy flavor; traditionally bottled in attractive blue and white Chinese jars.

Crystallized or candied ginger - Young ginger steeped in sugar syrup, dried and crystallized; used as a sweet.

Identification:
Bulbous knobbed root, dark brown to buff in color, of tropical plant growing to about 3ft. Reed like perennial with bright green leaf blades and yellow, purple lipped flowers.

< Back to Map