Ginger flower (ornamental)
perso.wanadoo.fr
Some languages in South-Eastern Central Europe have an initial palatal
sound (DY) in their name of ginger: Serbocroatian and Macedonian đumbir [ђумбир, ѓумбир],
Slovak ďumbier and Hungarian
gyömbér. Probably, there is a common reason
for these names, but I don’t known about it.
English ginger (Middle English gingifer, Old
English gingivere) goes back to Old French gingivie which,
of course, is also the source of Modern French gingembre.
The Dutch form gember has conserved the initial G,
probably due to influences from Romance languages.
Lastly, Arabic az-zanjabil [الزنجبيل] and
Hebrew sangvil [זנגוויל] are
also derived from the Indic names. From Arabic, the word was transferred
to Persian (zanjabil [زنجبیل]),
Kurdish (zanjafil [زةنجةفیل]),
Georgian (janjapili [ჯანჯაფილი]),
Tigrinya (jinjibil [ጅንጅብል])
and Uighur (sansabil). In the
days of the Ottoman Turk Empire, the Turkish name zencefil spread further reaching
even South East Europe, e. g., Albanian xhenxhefil
and Bulgarian dzhindzhifil [джинджифил].
Zingiber officinale: Ginger inflorescence
Ginger plant with flowers
www.csdl.tamu.edu
Zingiber officinale: Ginger inflorescence
Ginger flower
kanchanapisek.or.th © Thai Junior Encyclopedia
Despite the fact that the names of ginger in modern European tongues derive
from Old Greek zingiberis [ζιγγίβερις]
almost without exception, the modern Greek name is not related (see
also parsley and rose
for similar cases).
Instead, Greek piperoriza [πιπερόριζα]
is just a descriptive compound pepperroot
, referring to the pungent
peppery taste.
A similar motivation may lay behind Armenian gojabghbegh [կոճապղպեղ]
which, I deem, is composed of goj [կոճ] coil; ankle
and bghbegh [պղպեղ] pepper
.
Interestingly, pepper-root
is a name used in many Scandinavian
languages for horseradish. See the latter and
mugwort for more etymological explanations of
root
, and see long pepper for pepper
.
Likewise, the original Sanskrit term
shringavera [शृंगवेर]
appears to have left no trace in contemporary North Indian (Aryan) languages.
Instead, modern names of ginger derive from two other Sanskrit words
ardraka [आर्द्रक] fresh ginger
and sunthi [सुंठि] dried ginger
.
Descendants of these terms (usually in their original meanings) are still in use both in Aryan and Dravidian tongues of India,
and even in the geographically more distant Pashto:
language fresh, green dried
Sanskrit
ardraka [
आर्द्रक]
sunthi [
सुंठि]
Hindi,Dogri
adrakh [
अदरख]
sonth [
सोंठ]
Urdu
adrak [
ادرک]
Pashto
adrak [
ادرک]
sund [
سونډ]
Kashmiri
adrak [
ادرک]
shounth [
شونٹھ]
Nepali
aduva [
अदुवा]
sutho [
सुठो]
Gujarati
adu [
આદું]
sunth [
સૂંઠ]
Punjabi
adrak [
ਅਦਰਕ]
sund [
ਸੂੰਡ]
Marathi
ale [
आले]
sunth [
सुंठ]
Bengali
ada [
আদা]
Santali
ada,
adhe sut
Tamil
ellam [
எல்லம்]
sunthi [
சுண்டி]
Zingiber officinale: Ginger unearthed
Ginger plant with rhizome
pharm1.pharmazie.uni-greifswald.de
Zingiber officinale: Ginger pseudostems with leaves
Ginger plant
World-wide, ginger is among the most important and
valued spices, as the many synonyms indicate. Today, the plant grows in tropic
regions all over the world and plays part in the local cuisines. In Europe,
however, it is not common, although it had been an important spice in Roman
times (see
silphion for more information about the
taste of ancient Rome). Fresh ginger (also called green ginger) is now easily
available in Western countries.
Many people like raw ginger, and it is particularly popular in China and other Far Eastern countries.
Fresh ginger is grated or finely chopped, optionally soaked in water for
several hours, and then added to the dish not long before serving. This kind of
usage will result in a fresh, spicy and pungent taste which is best suited for salad-like preparations.
Examples of this kind include Chinese salads made from
boiled spinach (jiang-zhi bo-cai [姜汁菠菜])
or green beans (suan-rong jiang-dou 蒜蓉豇豆]),
some Newari snacks in Nepal (see garlic for details)
or the Japanese tofu salad hiya yakko [冷や奴, ひや やっこ] (see below).
If fresh ginger is cooked, it will increase in pungency but decrease in
freshness. Thais add grated ginger together with many other ingredients (in
the form of curry pastes) to their creamy coconut milk curries. Indonesians frequently use
spice pastes based on fresh chiles and ginger to
rub meat before grilling or baking (see lemon grass
for a general discussion and lesser galangale for
an example). Ginger tea, prepared by soaking slices of fresh ginger in black tea
for a few minutes, is a spicy and healthy drink enjoyed in hot tropic climates
(Indonesia), but also in the chill Himalayas (Sikkim); it may be also prepared without
tea leaves, just by boiling crushed ginger in water.
Zingiber officinale: Ginger pseudostems with leaves
Ginger plant
On frying, the flavour of ginger changes dramatically; as such, it is preferred in India and Sri
Lanka: If chopped ginger is fried (typically, together with garlic or onion), the hot
and spicy taste gives way to a mellow, mild, rich flavour (see ajwain). Especially Northern Indian recipes make much
use of this technique as the basis for delicious sauces to vegetable or meat
dishes. During the often long cooking of these dishes, ginger blends very harmoniously with
other flavours and becomes rather an unspecific background flavour.
In Chinese cookery, fresh ginger is both used boiled and fried. Food that needs
a long simmering time is often flavoured with slices of ginger, because the
slices release their flavour quite slowly (see orange for an example and see also cassia on Chinese master sauces). On the other
hand, there are the so-called stir-fries (Chinese chao or chow [炒]), which means that the food
is cooked rapidly in very hot oil, with constant stirring; such recipes usually require finely cut or even grated ginger.
In such short-fried dishes, ginger flavour remains discernible in the finished dish.
Zingiber officinale: Young ginger plant
Young ginger plant
A great and well-known recipe of the latter kind is kung pao chicken,
systematically spelled gong bao ji ding [宫保雞丁]:
Chopped chicken breast previously marinated in soy sauce and rice
wine are stir-fried in chile-flavoured oil together
with a good amount of ginger and some garlic; the
dish acquires a distinct character by addition of peanuts. With its liberal
usage of chiles and fresh ginger, gong bao very well
illustrates the cuisine of Sichuan, China’s most spicy
cooking style; see chile for another example.
Ginger has its place even in the cuisine of Japan, where it is used in small
quantities only; for example, chicken is flavoured by rubbing it with juice
obtained from squeezing fresh ginger rhizome. A salad or appetizer called
hiya yakko [冷や奴, ひや やっこ]
consists of pieces of chilled bean curd (tōfu [豆腐, とうふ])
that has an custard-like, soft texture, which are dressed
with grated fresh ginger, soy sauce and green scallion slices.
Japanese cuisine has two different versions of pickled ginger:
Beni shōga [紅生姜, 紅しょうが, べにしょうが]
is made from fresh ginger cut to thin strips and a red pickling brine which owes
its pink colour to perilla leaves; it is eaten as a
condiment or relish to warm foods.
Another type is gari [がり, ガリ]
prepared from very young ginger rhizomes, which is either pale or
slightly pink; is often served with sushi (see wasabi).
Ginger, being today grown as a cash crop in both Africa and Latin America, has
entered many local cuisines. Some recipes for Jamaican jerk paste (see
allspice) use ginger, which is not surprising since
Jamaica’s ginger is of extraordinary quality.
Zingiber officinale: Ginger inflorescence in a field in Karnataka (South India)
Ginger inflorescence
Zingiber officinale: Ginger fertile stems in a field in Karnataka (South India)
Ginger field in South India
Ginger ale is a soft drink that enjoys considerable popularity in the
USA. Like root beer (see sassafras), it is
not a fermented beer, but simply sugar, plant extract and carbonated water.
However, during the last centuries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,
ginger has also been used to flavour true beer, i. e., the alcoholic beverage
obtained by fermenting malt; see also gale.
Dried ginger, on the other side, is rather different in taste and cannot
substitute the fresh one. Dried ginger is an optional component of curry
powders (see curry leaves) and even of the
Chinese five spice powder (see star anise);
furthermore, it appears in berbere, a spice mixture from
Ethiopia (see long pepper). See greater galangale for an Indonesian recipe using dried
ginger.
Dried ginger is not much used in regions where fresh ginger is traditionally
available. The taste is more aromatic than pungent and has found some
applications in Europe, especially for spicy crackers; it furthermore enhances
the taste of tasty gravies and soups. Ginger has, however, a little bit come
out of use and is seldom called for in newer cook books, but it has been
retained in the French spice mixture quatre épices,
which goes back to baroque cooking styles; see nutmeg for the other ingredients of this very aromatic
mixture.
Zingiber officinale: Ginger fertile stems in a field in Karnataka (South India)
Ginger field in South India
In Middle Eastern cooking, ginger plays only a small rôle; yet surprisingly,
ginger (az-zanjabil [الزـَّنـْجـَبـِيل])
makes an appearance in the Quran, being one of the two aromatics of Paradise:
The blessed drink ginger-flavoured water from the fountain called
salsabil [سـَلـْسـَبـِيل].
In this passage, the warming action of ginger, together with the cooling
effect of camphor (al-kafur [الكـَافـُور])
symbolize the protection from cold and heat, respectively.
Only few other spices are mentioned in the Quran:
olive (az-zaitun [الزـَّيـْتـُون]),
garlic (al-fum [الفـُوم]),
onion (al-basal [البـَصـَل]) and
pomegranate (ar-rumman [الرـُّمـَّان]).
See the last one for a similar compilation of spices mentioned in the Bible.
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