Ginger

The fresh ginger root has a citrus and camphorlike, flowery, musty, fatty and green odor. In a column chromatographic preliminary separation of an extract, the characteristic aroma substances appeared in the fraction of the oxidized hydrocarbons. The highest FD factors in dilution analyses were obtained for geraniol, linalool, geranial, cit-ronellyl acetate, bomeol, 1,8-cineol and neral. 

The Chinese utilized ginger for stomachaches, diarrhea, nausea, cholera, bleeding, asthma, heart conditions, respiratory disorders, toothache, and rheumatic complaints. In China, the root and stem 

Ginger has carminative, diaphoretic, and antispasmodic properties. Traditionally, it is used for colic, flatulent dyspepsia, and specifically for flatulent intestinal colic. Its role in the prevention of motion sickness is also being researched. 

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Present in citronella and valerian oils, tur penline, ginger, rosemary and spike oils. It is produced artificially by the elimination of hydrogen chloride from bornyl chloride (artifi cial camphor) or from isobornyl chloride, by the dehydrogenation of borneol and isobor-neol and by the action of elhanoic anhydride on bornylamine. Chiral. 

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. 

Indonesian, or Malabar. Ginger is now grown in Hawaii, commanding a prime price, and increasing in volume tenfold since 1977. 

Essentia.1 Oils. Essential oils (qv) are extracted from the flower, leaf, bark, fmit peel, or root of a plant to produce flavors such as mint, lemon, orange, clove, cinnamon, and ginger. These volatile oils are removed from plants either via steam distillation, or using the cold press method, which avoids heat degradation. Additional processing is sometimes employed to remove the unwanted elements from the oils, such as the terpenes in citms oils which are vulnerable to oxidation (49,50). 

Essential oils are isolated from various plant parts, such as leaves (patchouH), fmit (mandarin), bark (cinnamon), root (ginger), grass (citroneUa), wood (amyris), heartwood (cedar), gum (myrrh oil), balsam (tolu balsam oil), berries (pimento), seeds (diU), flowers (rose), twigs and leaves (thuja oil), and buds (cloves). 

Table 41. Comparison of the Differences Between the Headspace Volatiles of Fresh Ginger Rhizome and a Commercial Oil ...

Elavored carbonated beverages, or soft drinks, were developed by apothecaries and chemists in the early nineteenth century by the addition of flavored symps to fountain-dispensed carbonated water. The introduction of proprietary flavors began in the late 1880s. Charles H. Hires introduced his root beer extract in 1876, Vemors s Ginger Ale was marketed by James Vernor in 1880, R. S. La2enby perfected the formula for Dr. Pepper in 1885, and John S. Pemberton developed the formula for Coca-Cola in 1886. Brad s Drink was introduced in 1896 and was later renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898. 

Oleo Resins. These oily residues, obtained from the solvent extraction of herbs, contain more of the characteristic flavors than do the essential oils. The solvent extraction removes nearly all of the flavor bodies from the herb. The extract solvent is distilled, reduciag the solution to an oily residue. Oleo resias of iaterest to the carbonated beverage iadustry are ginger, celery, and black pepper. 

Ginger grass or " Sofia grass oil diSerS in characters entirely from palmaroea or " Moiia " grass od. It has the following eharaclers —... 

Tho known constituents of ginger grass oil are the terpenes, diuen-tane, d-a-phellandreoo and rf-limonene, together with geraniol, ana an alonboJ which is identical with that obtained by the reduction of porUlio aldehyde, and which is known as perillic alcohol. 

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