Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Ginger along with all the Ginger containing recipes presented on this site, with 1546 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

Ginger, Zingiber officinale is the archetypical member of the Zingiberaceae (ginger) family and though it is generally termed as 'ginger root' the spice is actually the rhizome of the plant. Originating in southern China, cultivation of ginger spread to India, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Caribbean. Ginger itself is a perennial reed-like plant with leafy stems that replace themselves annually. These eventually produce clusters of white and pink flower buds that bloom into yellow flowers and because of this ginger is often used as a landscaping plant around sub-tropical homes.

The commonest form of ginger (also called 'white ginger') is a fat rhizome with a pale skin. Yet, this is not the only form of Zingiber officinale commonly under cultivation. The 'Jamaica' or 'White African' (also known in Africa as 'red ginger') form has a short rhizome which is light brown to red in colour (above, right), is very pungent and has a slightly bitter aftertaste. The Cochin ginger has an even shorter rhizome and has a red-grey colour which, again, is very pungent. Primarily African and Cochin gingers are primarily for their resin and volatile oils, but they are used as a spice in their countries of origin (mostly West Africa) and are commonly sold in markets there where their increased pungency fits well with the pungency of West African 'soups' (stews)

Young ginger roots are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or just cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. They can also be stewed in boiling water to make ginger tea, to which honey is often added as a sweetener. Mature ginger roots are fibrous and nearly dry. The juice from old ginger roots is extremely potent and is often used as a spice in Chinese cuisine to cover up other strong odours and flavours such as in seafood and mutton. Ginger has been used in European cuisine since Medieval times when it arrived as a dried spice and gave rise to Ginger Bread. It is also used in almost all cuisines worldwide and has become an essential ingredient of many recipes (espceically Chinese recipes). Fresh ginger can also be finely grated and used sparingly gives an added piquancy to many soups. Ginger cut into fine matchsticks also makes a wonderful addition to any stir-fry and is a great accompaniment to steamed fish.

Ginger has a refreshing, lemon-like smell; pungent, warm taste. See negro pepper for a comparison of pungent spices, and lemon myrtle for other spices with citrus aroma. The essential oil (1 to 3% of the fresh rhizome) contains mostly sesqui­terpenes, e. g., (–)-zingiberene (up to 70%), (+)-ar-curcumene β-sesquiphellandrene, bisabolene and farnesene. Mono­terpenoids occur in traces (β-phell­andrene, cineol, citral). The pungency of ginger is caused by a non-volatile resin containing the same type of hydroxyaryl compounds that are also found in other spices of the ginger family: Zingerone, gingeroles and shogaoles. The pungent gingeroles degrade to the milder shogaoles during storage; high gingerole content and good pungency thus indicate freshness and quality. See also grains of paradise.

Ginger originates from Southern China. Today, it is cultivated all over tropic and subtropical Asia (50% of the world’s harvest is produced in India), in Brazil, Jamaica (whence the best quality is exported) and Nigeria, whose ginger is rather pungent, but lacks the fine aroma of other countries.

In ancient times, all European ginger was sourced, ultimately, from India. As a result, the word for ginger in most European languages derives from the Late Latin gingiber, itself derived from the Latin zingiber (though it should be noted that the Welsh form, sinsir remains true to the original) which is derived from the Greek zingiberis [ζιγγίβερις] which, unsurprisingly is a cognate of the Sanskrit shringavera [शृंगवेर]. The English word, ginger (Middle English gingifer, Old English gingivere) originates from the Old French gingivie.

In Europe, ginger was a very important spice for the Ancient Romans (both fresh and dried) and dried ginger was commonly used in Medieval cuisine, being the base for many spice powders. However, ginger fell out of favour in European cooking after the middle ages (the exception being British cakes, particularly gingerbreads) where ginger was still used. It was only during the Georgina period, with stronger links to the Indian sub-continent that ginger became a common spice in Britain again, though its use tended to be limited to ground ginger used in spiced cakes and biscuits.

World-wide, ginger ranks amongst the most important and valued spices, as the many synonyms indicate. Today, the plant grows in tropic regions all over the world and plays an important part in many local cuisines. In Europe, however, it is not a particularly used spice, though it has grown in importance in the UK, due to the use of ginger-garlic paste in Indian-derived cookery.