Cultivation ginger

The most ancient uses of spices appear to be therapeutic in nature. The use of spices was common in China but tittle, if any, authentic Chinese records exist to confirm this. According to Chinese myths and legends, Shen Nung, the Divine Cultivator, founded Chinese medicine and discovered the curative powers of many herbs. He is said to have described more than 100 plants in a treatise reportedly written in 2700 BC. It has been shown, however, that no written language was available in China at that time. Although some of the herbal uses in the treatise go back several centuries BC, the work seems to have been produced by unknown authors in the first century AD. Other records on the use of cassia and ginger are known to have been written in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, in the latter case by Confucius. 

ZO079 Yamahara, ]., S. Hatakeyama, K. Taniguchi, M. Kawamura, and M. Yoshikawa. Stomachic principles in ginger. II. Pungent and anti-ulcer effects of low polar constituents isolated from ginger, the dried rhizoma of Zingiber officinale Roscoe, cultivated in Taiwan. The absolute stereostructure of a new diarylheptanoid. Yakugaku Zasshi 1992 112(9) 645-655. 

Main cultivation areas for ginger are India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia and the Fiji Islands. Ginger concentrates are used in large amounts in beverages (e.g., ginger ale), as well as in baked goods and confectioneries. FCT 1974 (12) p.901 [8007-08-7], [84696-15-1]. 

Table 5.2. Proximate composition of cultivated varieties of ginger.

The Jerusalem artichoke, which is native to America, is a close relative of the sunflower. It is cultivated for the edible tubers, which grow underground and look like ginger root or misshapen potatoes. Jerusalem artichoke is often recommended for diabetics, as it has no starch the carbohydrate of fresh tubers is in the form of inulin rather than sugar. But if they are stored for a long period of time, the inulin converts to sugar. 

This oil is the product of distillation of the rhizome of Zingiber officinale, a native of tropical Asia, which is also cultivated in both East and West Indies, and in Africa, and to a small extent in Australia. Possibly, also, it is found in China, although the greater part of the Chinese ginger appears to be the product of Alpinia Gaianga. 

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