ginger

BOTANICAL NAME

Zingiber officinale

AKA

ginger

The Zingiber officinale plant is thought to be native of Southeast Asia which is where it is still primarily produced, though Jamaica has been known to also yield quality crops. Like turmeric root, ginger root refers to the plants' rhizomes and not their actual roots. These rhizomes are the horizontal underground stems for which both plants are grown and harvested. Ginger's knobby rhizome grows in branches sometimes called fingers, together which make a 'hand.'

Ginger is harvested between 8-10 months after planting. Most young fresh ginger has flesh that is light yellow and juicy with a more mild flavor. As the rhizome matures, the thin easily-abraded skin thickens, the flesh darkens and becomes more fibrous, and its taste grows in pungency. The aromatic rhizome is then carefully dug from the soil and hand-rubbed to remove its outer most skin. It is then dried, sometimes bleached, and sold in a variety of forms for consumption including: fresh, dried, ground, preserved, and/or sugared.

When fresh ginger is dried it becomes less citrusy and its pungency increases since the drying process converts the flavor constituent gingerol to shogaol which has double the heat. When both are cooked they are converted to the more mildly spicy zingerone.