ABSTRACT

Ginger, Zingiber officinale, is an erect, herbaceous perennial plant in the family Zingiberaceae grown for its edible rhizome (underground stem), which is widely used as a spice. The English origin of the word, “ginger”, is somewhere from the mid-fourteenth century. The ginger rhizome is brown, with a corky outer layer and pale yellow, scented center. The aboveground shoot is erect and reed-like with linear leaves that are arranged alternately on the stem. The shoots originate from a multiple basis and wrap around one another. Typical leaves of ginger can reach 7 cm (2.75 inches) in length and 1.9 cm (0.7 inches) broad. Flowering heads are borne on shorter stems and the plant produces cone shaped, pale yellow flowers. The ginger plant can reach 0.6–1.2 m in height (2–4 ft) and is grown as an annual plant. Ginger is also referred as true ginger, stem ginger, garden ginger, or root ginger, and it is believed to have originated in the Southeast Asia. In 2014, with a global production of 2.2 million tons of raw ginger, India accounted for 30% of the world total, followed by China (19%), Nepal (13%), Indonesia (12%), and Thailand (7%).