Ginger

Hindi Name: Adrak

Botanical name: Zingiber officinale

Family name: Roscoe Zingiberaceae

Commercial part: The rhizome

What is Ginger

Serving the purpose of a taste- maker, an appetizer and a drug, ginger is known as one of the earliest Oriental spice in Europe and has been cultivated in India as a fresh vegetable and marketed as a dried spice since time immemorial. Ginger was an important spice during the Roman times. During the last centuries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ginger was used to flavor true beer i.e. the alcoholic beverage obtained by fermenting malt.

Originally from Central Asia, today ginger is cultivated in all the tropical and subtropical Asian regions, Brazil, Jamaica and Nigeria. Raw ginger is popular in South East Asia. In India ginger tea prepared by cooking slices of fresh ginger for a few minutes, is taken as a spicy and healthy drink to get relieved form cold and cough.

The fresh, dried or powdered rhizome of a slender perennial herb, Indian ginger is acclaimed worldwide for its characteristic taste, flavor & texture. Ginger is cultivated as a cash crop in Africa and Latin America and its drink known as Ginger ale is very popular in USA. Like root beer the ginger soft drink is not fermented beer but simply sugar, ginger extract and carbonated water.

India offers ginger in a variety of forms like, oils, oleoresins, fresh ginger in brine, pickles, candies and syrups, garbled / ungarbled, bleached / unbleached and powder form. Though grown all over India, the finest quality ginger is grown in Kerela. Indian dry ginger is known in the world market as 'Cochin Ginger' (NUGC) & 'Calicut Ginger' (NUGK).

India has a predominant position in ginger production and export. The principal buyers are the Middle East, USA, the UK and the Netherlands.

Name in International Languages
Spanish:	Jengibre
French:	Gingembre
German:	Ingwer
Swedish:	Ingefara
Arabic:	Gember
Dutch:	Knoflook
Italian:	Zenzero
Portuguese:	Gengibre
Russian:	Imbir
Japanese:	Shoga
Chinese:	Chiang