Shocking Facts About Ginger

1. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or simply ginger, is widely used as a spice or a folk medicine.
2. Ginger originated in the tropical rainforests from the Indian subcontinent to Southern Asia.
3. It is now cultivated in the U.S. (including Hawaii), India, China, the West Indies, and other tropical regions.
4. Ginger is one of the world’s more well-known and useful plants, being used for centuries as a spice for flavoring food and as a medicinal plant.
5. Chinese and Ayurvedic practitioners have relied on ginger for at least 3,000 years for its anti-inflammatory properties, and have used it as a “carrier” herb, one that enables other herbs to be more effective in the body
6. As one of the first spices exported from the Orient, ginger arrived in Europe during the spice trade, and was used by ancient Greeks and Romans.
7. By the 11th century CE, it was a common trade article from the East to Europe.
8. The Spaniards brought it to the West Indies and Mexico soon after the conquest, and by 1547 ginger was being exported from Santiago to Spain.
9. Jamaicans and early American settlers made beer from it; and today, natural ginger ales made with fresh ginger are available as a digestive tonic.
10. The flesh of the ginger rhizome can be yellow, white or red in color, depending upon the variety. It is covered with a brownish skin that may either be thick or thin, depending upon whether the plant was harvested when it was mature or young.