Used as a Spice by the Early Greeks and Romans--Plant a Native of Asia
and Grew Wild in Mexico and Africa
As a spice, ginger was used among the early Greeks and Romans, who
appear to have received it by way of the Red sea, inasmuch as they
considered it to be a production of southern Arabia. In the list of
imports from the Red sea into Alexandra which, in the 2nd century of
our era, were then liable to the Roman fiscal duty, ginger occurs among
other Indian spices. It appears in the tariff of duties levied at Acre
in Palestine, about 1173, in that of Barcelona in 1221, Marseilles
in 1228 and Paris 1296. It was known in England before the Norman
conquest, being frequently named in the Anglo-Saxon leech-books of the
11th century as well as in the Welsh “Physicians of Myddvai.” During
the 13th and 14th centuries, it was, next to pepper, the commonest
of spices, costing on an average 1s 7d per lb., or about the price
of a sheep. Three kinds of ginger were known to Italian merchants
about the 14th century: (1) Belledi of Baladi, an Arabic name which
applied to ginger would signify country, wild, and denotes common
ginger; (2) Columbonio, which refers to Columbuno, Kolam or Quilon,
a port in Travanore, frequently referred to in the middle ages; (3)
Micchino, which denotes brot from or by way of Mecca. Marco Polo saw
it in India and China, 1230–1239. John of Montecorvino, a missionary
friar, who visited India in 1290, gives a description of the plant and
refers to the root being dug up and transplanted. Nicolo de Conti, a
Venetian merchant, early in the 15th century describes the plant and
a collection of roots he saw in India. The Venetians received it by
way of Egypt, and superior kinds from India overland by the Black sea.
Ginger was introduced into America by Francisco de Mondoca, who took
it from the East Indies to New Spain. It was shipped for commercial
purposes from the islands of St. Domingo in 1585, and from Barbadoes in
1654.
[Illustration]
Ginger is the dried, knotty fibrous rhizomes or tubers--“races” or
“hands” as they are called from their irregular, palmate form--of the
ginger plant (zinziber officinale) the real roots being the thin fibers
that branch off from the rhizomes.
The plant is a native of Asia, but also found growing wild in Mexico
and East Africa. It is a reed-like biennial plant, not unlike the iris
or flag in appearance. The leaves are long, similar to those of maize,
growing alternate on a stem 3 to 4 ft. high. The flowers are borne on a
separate stem, 6 to 12 in. high; they are yellow or blue, according to
the quality of the soil in which they have been grown. The plant which
produces the yellow flower and best ginger is grown on rich, deep,
virgin soil; the other comes from poorer ground. Ginger is propagated
by pieces of the rhizome being planted in March. The flowers appear
about September, after they have withered and seeded. The roots are dug
up about January. When left too long in the ground, the rhizomes become
very fibrous, if taken up too soon they are tender and succulent, so
much so that they cannot be made sufficiently dry to render them fit
for export in the usual commercial form. They are therefore preserved
in sugar. The rhizomes, besides being classed as “yellow” or “blue,”
are also divided into “plant,” (being the rhizomes from plants of the
same season’s growth), and “ratoon” which are rhizomes left in the
ground from the previous harvest.
Ginger is known in commerce in two distinct forms, termed respectively
as coated or uncoated ginger,--as having or wanting the epidermis. For
the coated ginger, the races of hands, after being dug up, are thoroly
washed to free them from all the adhering earth. They are then laid
on a canvas or cement floor, outdoors, to dry by the heat of the sun.
At night they are taken indoors. It takes from 6 to 8 days to thoroly
dry them. They are then ready for shipment. In damp weather they are
artificially dried by an evaporator. In this form ginger presents a
brown, more or less wrinkled or straited, surface, and when broken
up shows a dark brownish fracture, hard, and sometimes horney and
resinous. For the uncoated ginger the fresh-dug rhizomes, after being
washed, are soaked in water for some time and then peeled or scraped--a
most delicate operation requiring the hand of an expert. Owing to the
peculiar formation of the races, no machine has yet been invented that
will do the work satisfactorily. The outer rind or skin is deftly taken
off by means of a common knife, so as not to injure the inner root, as
a loss of the pungent volatile oil, to which ginger owes its value,
would follow and thus impair its commercial worth. After being peeled
the races are soaked in water over night. In the morning they are again
washed, cleaned and weighed, and then dried in the same manner as
coated ginger.
It requires 3 lbs. of green root to make 1 lb. of dry root. The purer
the water the whiter the ginger. Sometimes lime juice is added to the
wash water, which gives a whiter root, but as lime juice contains
sugar, it prevents thoro drying and mildew follows. Ginger is often
subjected to a system of bleaching, or by immersion for a short time in
a solution of chlorinated lime. The white-washed appearance which much
of the ginger has is due to the fact of its being washed in whiting and
water or even coated with sulphate of lime. Uncoated ginger varies from
single joints an inch or less to flattish, irregularly branched pieces
of several joints, the races of hands, and from 3 to 4 in. long. Each
race has a depression on the summit showing the former attachment of
a leafy stem. The color, when not white-washed, is a pale buff. It is
somewhat rough, breaking with a short, mealy fracture, and presenting
on the surface of the broken parts numerous short or bristly fibers.
The best ginger grown comes from Jamaica. It is of a superior strength,
fine flavor and a light, handsome color. A peculiar trade custom
prevails in Jamaica with regard to ginger, which is not sold by weight
or measure but by the “heap,” and the size of the heap governs the
price and is an indication, to a certain extent, of the quality and
quantity of the crop. If the heap is small, the price is high; if the
heap is large, then the price is lower. If the races or hands, are
finely shaped and large, there are fewer in the heap; if small, dark
and mealy, the heap is made larger.
The next best quality is Borneo or Cochin ginger, which closely
resembles in appearance the Jamaica. It is not, however, so carefully
prepared.
African ginger, also termed Bombay or Calcutta, from the ports of
shipment, is darker in color, has a coarser appearance, a harsher
flavor and inferior aroma to either of the above, but contains a
greater amount of oleoresin than they do and is very pungent. It is
largely used for making ginger beer, essences, extracts, etc.
Leaf ginger is ginger that has been sliced into thin flakes.
Green ginger root, is that which has not undergone any process of
cleaning beyond freeing it from the earth adhering. Imported in casks
and used by wine makers, preservers, etc.
Spent-ginger is whole ginger that has once been used, then fixed up to
resemble good ginger and sold whole or ground. It does not possess a
single one of the valuable properties of genuine ginger.
China ginger is not imported in a dried state, the rhizomes being too
tender and succulent to thoroly dry for export. It is preserved or
candied. For preserving, the rhizomes are first scalded, then washed
in cold water and peeled, then boiled in pans for 2 or 3 hours; then
transferred to copper pans and boiled for 2 hours in a mixture of
sugar and water--just sufficient water to cover the roots, 5 lbs. of
sugar to 10 lbs. of ginger, the roots having been pierced with a sharp
instrument to enable the sugar to soak into them. After boiling the
ginger is put into large jars and stands for several days, when it is
again boiled in sugar and water in the same quantities. After it has
become cold it is packed in jars or tins for export. To crystallize,
the same process is gone thru, only in the final boiling it is boiled
until the sugar become dry.
The Chinese season for preserving ginger is from July to October. It
is nearly all prepared in Canton and Hongkong. A kind known as Ng Mai
Keunig is preserved in Swaton, from Alpina galanga, but it is not like
the Canton or Hankou ginger and is only made for native consumption,
to be used medicinally or for cooking. Some of it goes to the Straits
Settlement, but none to Hongkong. Jamaica preserved ginger is mostly
put up in glass bottles. The uses of ginger are too well known to need
repeating.