Ginger commercialization

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

The house drink, the Belladonna, which was named for Ms. Arpaia, was unavailable because the kitchen had not sent out the ginger-orange puree required. And the Blue Moon, based on a fresh blueberry puree, which is another of the chef s touches meant to distinguish the cocktails, was being served with a commercial substitute and garnished with a raspberry. 

The crude fibre content of unpeeled ginger may be as high as 10% (on a dry weight basis), but in commercial dried gingers it is usually in the range of 1.5-6%. The volatile oil content of commercial dried gingers has been reported to be 0.5-4.4% but, for the major types, the range is usually 1-3%. 

Table 5.1. Composition of ginger, spent ginger, and by-products (commercial samples). 

The pungent principles of commercial Japanese ginger have been studied by two groups of workers who found [6]-gingerol to be the major constituent, together with smaller quantities of [8]- and [10]-gingerols (Chen et al., 1986). 

Jolad, S.D., Lantz, R.C., Chen, G.J., Bates, R.B. and Timmermann, B.N. (2005) Commercially processed dry ginger (Zingiber officinale) composition and effects on LPS-stimulated PGE2 production. Phytochemistry 66(13), 1614-1635. 

Scratch tests with powdered commercial spices in 70 patients with positive skin tests to birch and/or mugwort pollens and celery were positive to aniseed, fennel, coriander, and cumin, all Apiaceae, in more than 24 patients (2). Spices from unrelated families (red pepper, white pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon) elicited positive immediate skin test reactions in only three of 11 patients. Specific serum IgE to spices (determined in 41 patients with a positive RAST to celery) up to class 3 was found, especially in patients with celery-mugwort or celery-birch-mugwort association. The celery-birch association pattern was linked to positive reactions (RAST classes 1,2) with spices from the Apiaceae family only. 

Ginger is commercially available in the United States as the dried powdered root, syrup, tincture, capsules, tablets, tea, oral solution, powder for oral solution, as a spice, and in candy, ice cream, and beer (3). 

Malinski, E. Stepnowski, P. (2008c). Chemical composition of commercially available essential oils from blackcurrant, ginger, and p>ep>p)ermint. Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vol.44, No.6, (November 2008), p>p. 794-796, ISSN 0009-3130... 

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