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by Elizabeth Coughlan

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In the western world, ginger has usually been associated with cookies, gingerbread men and houses but it is a popular seasoning for food in many of the world's cuisines. It is used in cooking curries, stir-fries, meats, fish, fruit, biscuits, cakes, pickles, chutney, ginger beer and ginger ale. Whether it is fresh, dried, preserved or crystallized, ginger stimulates the gastric juices and helps good digestion.

The herb, commonly known as ginger, was given the Latin name. Zigiber officinale, by the botanist William Roscoe, in an 1807 publication, but it has been known to man for many thousands of years. It is believed to have originated in India but it is now cultivated in most tropical and sub-tropical countries, especially China, India, Nigeria, Australia, Mexico and the West Indies where it was introduced by the Spaniards.

Ginger has been known in Europe for at least 2000 years. It was subject to Roman tax and has been mentioned in early medical books since the eleventh century. In England, ginger was used mainly as a baking spice. Elizabeth I developed a fancy for gingerbread and her cook made it into the likenesses of her courtiers to entertain her, giving rise to the traditional gingerbread man.

Ginger is a large perennial rhizome that grows underground in tuberous joints. The Latin name zingeber is derived from the Sanskrit word singabera, meaning 'horn-shaped' in reference to the protrusions on the rhizome. In the spring, the tuber sends up green reed-like leaves, up to thirty centimeters high, which die down in the winter. The flower stem may grow to a meter in length and shoots directly from the root ending in dense cone-like spikes. At the end of each spike there is a white or yellow flower. There are more than 1200 identifiable plant species of ginger giving rise to different varieties such as Jamaica or White African ginger and Cochin. Green ginger is not a different species; it refers to the immature, fresh rhizome.

Ginger has amazing medicinal properties and, from references in early Sanskrit, Chinese, Greek, Roman and Arabic texts, it is evident that it has been used since ancient times.

The Chinese call the fresh root sheng jiang and the dried root gang jiang. They believe that fresh ginger and dried ginger should be treated as different herbs as they have different properties. Chinese herbalists use the fresh root to promote sweating, as an expectorant for colds and chills and for diarrhea. They use the dried root to warm

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