Beautiful Ginger
Spiral Ginger
The ginger family (Zingiberaceae) is made up of a large group of tropical herbs. Most gingers are native to the fields and rain forests of Indo-Malaysia. The family, ever changing, consists of about 45 genra and around 700 species. The edible gingers have forever been items of commerce.
Some are grown for their roots and sold in markets.
Others such as cardamom have been used as flavoring though out the world and in India for millennia.
Turmeric is another which is used in curry powder and as a yellow dye, blossom below.
Trade of ginger was developed first in Indonesian and along the coasts of the Indian Ocean.
Later, other cultures discovered them. Gourmets in the Mediterranean area became well acquainted with them. Even the early Greek and Roman writings have recorded the use of ginger as a spice. Today our international cuisine has a constant demand on this wonderful spice.
Although more popularly known as a spice the flower of gingers are one of the more widely used tropical plants. Their bright red flowers can be seen during festival times in the South Pacific as colorful dresses.
Bracts are also made into stunning leis (garlands) such as in Samoa where the red ginger lei is worn by royalty in important ceremonies.
Torch Ginger
Shell gingers are also quite attractive and are well used in flower arrangements. Many gingers have medicinal uses from helping asthma to relieving stomach aches.
Others gingers are used as perfumes and some are thought to have a supernatural values in casing away evil spirits. Also the Hawaiians used the foamy flower heads of the variegated wild ginger for shampooing hair and quenching thirst.
My first experience with ginger was during childhood - tasting my grandmother's ginger snaps. I now make a gingersnap using fresh ginger, powdered ginger and candied ginger for a REAL ginger-pop of flavour.
My mother was using fresh ginger early on in Chinese cooking. She had a friend named "Sam" who owned a local Chinese restaurant and gave us ooking lessons. I was perhaps 14, and I still treaasure and use those recipes for YuShaing Pork, Kung Pao Chicken, and a velvwty ginger fried fish.
Shell Ginger just emerging
Although we often refer to ginger as a root, technically, it is a rhizome, an underground stem that looks like a tuber--or a thick root. And ginger is one of the most fragile of all the spicy ingredients because its heat fades so quickly, especially after processing and when cooked.
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Snigdha says :
Wonderful pictures. Though I love Ginger and is a must in most of my cooking, I had no idea Ginger Flowers were so beautiful!
Posted on: 5 February 2008 - 1:20am
shantihhh says :
You can grow ginger as a housplant and enjoy the blooms! There are yellow ginger blosooms and many shapes. I was too lazy to look through all my thousands of photos for them. I am trying to categorize my photos.
I hve so many of flowers. I use to snap shots at the test gardens in Holland and also in India where we were doing tissue cultures to propogate quicker. (partnership with Tata in Kerela andalso Darjeeling). Orchids and ginger can grow just in coir pith which has all the nutrients. But that should be a lbog sometime.
Shanti/Mary-Anne
Posted on: 5 February 2008 - 2:35am
Sarita Bhandarkar says :
When I was in India I used to grow ginger in my garden. And I have seen one of those flowers. It was very beautiful and the fragrance was very nice.
Posted on: 5 February 2008 - 3:00pm
Ganesh Dutta says :
another great absolutely delicious pictures and very informative blog!
Posted on: 5 February 2008 - 3:52pm
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