Ginger root is used extensively as a spice in many if not most cuisines of the world. Though called a root, it is actually the rhizome of the monocotyledonous perennial plant Zingiber officinale.
The English word ginger is derived from Indian language.
Origin and distribution
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The ginger plant is a cultigen that does not occur in the wild; it is native to India and China. In antiquity, it was cultivated in Asia and Africa. Today, it is grown in large scale all over the tropics. The most expensive and highest quality varieties generally come from Australia, southern India, and Jamaica, while most mass market ginger is grown in China. India has a large ginger production for the domestic market.
Chemistry
Ginger contains up to 3% of an essential oil which causes the fragrance of the spice. The main constituents are sesquiterpenoids with (-)-zingiberene as the main component. Lesser amounts of other sesquiterpenoids (β-sesquiphellandrene, bisabolene and farnesene) and a small monoterpenoid fraction (β-phelladrene, cineol, and citral) have also been identified.
The pungent taste of ginger is due to nonvolatile phenylpropanoids (particularly gingerol and zingerone) and diarylheptanoids (gingeroles and shoagoles); the latter are more pungent and form from the former when ginger is dried. Cooking ginger transforms gingerol into zingerone, which is less pungent and has a spicy-sweet aroma.[2] None of these pungent chemicals are related to capsaicin, the principal hot constituent of chile pepper.
source : hydroponicsearch
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