Origin of Ginger
ORIGIN OF GINGER
Ginger is native to eastern Asia. Indian and Chinese cultures have used for millennia as a soothing digestive. The Chinese consider ginger as the yang, or spicy food, which balances the yin cold food to create harmony.
The Greeks, Romans, also used for this purpose. Hit Europe and America when he established himself as a medicinal herb and became popular as a soft drink. (ginger ale, ginger beer and ginger tea) to relieve stomach.
Today, ginger is grown worldwide, it is cultivated in countries such as India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Caribbean Islands and Venezuela in several states, being in Guyana the site is given with good taste and size.
It is a plant native to tropical areas of Southeast Asia. The original name is a Sanskrit word sringavera (which means horn-shaped) which fell into Persian as dzungebir and in turn dziggibris Greek as in Latin became zingiber and now in Spanish and ginger.
China and India are the main producers, followed by northern Australia, Hawaii and the West Indies but cultivated in Jamaica ginger is considered the best quality has a warm aroma with a fresh wood note and a sweet background, with spicy flavor slightly bitter. We know that over 3,000 years, has been grown in tropical Asia.
The embassies of the Persian king Darius commercial (V century BC) brought this spice was widely used by Hindus. The first written data are collected by Confucius (551-479 BC) was brought to the Mediterranean, in the first century by the Phoenicians and was known in Egypt, Greece and Rome. In the second century, ginger is a ratio of imports made in Alexandria, from the Red Sea that were subject to customs duties by Rome.
After the pepper, ginger was the second species in order of preference by the Romans. Pliny makes mention of its price six pence a pound (about 4,600 pesetas to 300 grams) and mentioned his home somewhere in Somalia, southeastern Ethiopia or Egypt. In the Garden of Delights, Muslims just that, being dead, are not pure spirits, find ginger to honor the houris “A blend of fine wines and pure water is your drink Zangebir” Qur’an, Sura LXXVI-17.
Ginger came to France and Germany during the ninth century, and a little later, to England, where in the eleventh century was already well known. The Portuguese introduced it into Africa and took him to the Spanish West Indies although we know that Don Francisco de Mendoza, son of the Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza, planted in New Spain cloves, pepper and ginger latter being the best result gave bringing it to Spain, considering it good for stews and helpful for digestion.
In medieval European cuisine, ginger occupied a very important place in the whole spices used. In France its use was abundant relative to other countries, mainly because, in the French medieval cuisine, there was a greater taste for sour is reflected in the cookbooks. Henry VIII was very fond of ginger (and other properties is recognized as an aphrodisiac) and a recipe sent to the Mayor of London as a remedy against the plague.
The gingerbread recipe was initially a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and her court, and ended up becoming popular among various social classes of England. Through the Arabs arrived in Europe on gingembrat or candied ginger, which was made and is still doing in Asian countries, exposing for sale in large porcelain jars, the ginger jars. As ginger in 1553 was still very expensive, Nostradamus used to produce this candy with the root of the dunes blue thistle (Eryngium) and perfumed with a piece of ginger, so was spared a lot.
credit to: yehlincarrillo
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thanks.. nice info