Ginger root
Category:Japanese food\nCategory:Chinese cuisine\nCategory:Spices
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Ginger root is used extensively as a cooking ingredient or\n
spice in
Cantonese cuisine and others.\nIt is part of mainstream western food in
ginger ale and desserts\nsuch as
gingerbread and
ginger snaps (a type of cookie).\nThough generally called "root", it is actually the
rhizome of the\n
monocotyledonous plant
Zingiber officinale.
Culinary uses
Young ginger roots are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste.\nThey are often pickled in vinegar as a snack or just cooked as an\ningredient in many dishes.\nMature ginger roots are fibrous and nearly dry.\nThe juice from old ginger roots is extremely hot and is often used as a\nspice in Chinese cooking to cover up other strong odors and flavors such as\nin seafood and mutton.
Ginger is also made into candy, is used as a flavoring for cookies and cake,\nand is the main flavor in "
ginger ale", a sweet, carbonated, non-alcoholic\nbeverage.
Dried and powdered ginger is used to add spiciness to
gingerbread and other recipes. It tastes quite different from fresh ginger, and they can not be substituted for each other.
Ginger is grown throughout the tropical areas of the world. The most expensive, and highest quality varieties, generally come from
India and
Jamaica while most mass market ginger is grown in
China.
Medical uses
Medical research has shown that ginger root is an effective treatment for nausea caused by
motion sickness,
morning sickness or other illness. Ginger root also contains many
antioxidants. Powdered dried ginger root is made into pills for medicinal use. Chinese women traditionally eat ginger root during
pregnancy to combat morning sickness. Ginger ale and ginger beer have been recommended as "stomach settlers" for generations in countries where the beverages are made. Ginger water was commonly used to avoid heat cramps in the United States in the past.
Similar species
Myoga (
Zingiber mioga Roscoe) appears in
Japanese cuisine; the flower buds are the part eaten.
Another plant in the Zingiberaceae,
galangal, is used for similar purposes as ginger in
Thai cuisine. Galangal is also called Thai ginger.
A
dicotyledonous native species of eastern\n
North America,
Asarum canadense, is also known as "
wild ginger", and the root has similar aromatic properties and should not be used as a substitute because it contains the carcinogen
aristolochic acid. The plant is not, however, related to true ginger. This plant is also a powerful
diuretic, or urinary stimulator. It is part of the
Aristolochiaceae family.
External link
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