Tuesday, 27 April 2010

A R T I C L E 32 : G I N G E R


By S. Olanrewaju Disu .

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The Ginger is a peculiar agricultural product in our markets, especially the bigger ones that sell exotic farm products and condiments. Historically, ginger is a tropical Asiatic herb with pungent aromatic rhizomes. Scientifically, ginger is called “Zingiber officinale, Family Zingiberaceae”, the ginger family.

Ginger is used as a condiment, a stimulant, and as a carminative. Industrially, ginger is used in the manufacture of ginger-ale, ginger-beer, as well as ginger-bread.
[ginger-ale is a sweetened carbonated non-alcoholic beverage, flavored mainly with ginger extracts; ginger-beer is also a sweetened carbonated non-alcoholic beverage heavily flavored with ginger or capsicum or both; while ginger-bread is a cake made with molasses and flavored with ginger.]

With regards to domestic cooking and commercial food vendoring, spices can give different flavors to almost any food and ginger is one of the few spices that produce a hot dish, especially a pungent seasoning.


Photograph : Ginger on sale at the “Mushin Market”.

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