In a country like Nigeria, where of recent, healthy cooking is all the rave, a number of people out there are interested in the use of organic spices and condiments in cooking their food. One of these is Ginger.
Ginger, also known as Zingiberace officinale , is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual stems about a meter tall bearing narrow green leaves and yellow flowers. Ginger is in the family Zingiberaceae, to which also belong turmeric (Curcuma longa), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum)
Ginger produces a hot, fragrant kitchen spice.[6] Young ginger rhizomes are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. They can be steeped in boiling water to make ginger herb tea, to which honey is often added; sliced orange or lemon fruit may be added. Ginger can be made into candy, or ginger wine, which has been made commercially since 1740.
Mature ginger rhizomes are fibrous and nearly dry. The juice from ginger roots is often used as a seasoning in Indian recipes and is a common ingredient of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and many South Asian cuisines for flavoring dishes such as seafood, meat, and vegetarian dishes.
Fresh ginger can be substituted for ground ginger at a ratio of six to one, although the flavors of fresh and dried ginger are somewhat different.
Powdered dry ginger root is typically used as a flavoring for recipes such as gingerbread, cookies, crackers and cakes, ginger ale, and ginger beer.
Unfortunately, with Nigeria being in a state of economic recession, ginger can get really expensive, with prices ranging between N200-N500 per bunch. An alternative to this is simply growing your own ginger
This process is actually a lot simpler than you may think; ginger is actually very easy to grow.
There are a lot of things that go into growing ginger, but of course it begins with the planting material. ginger doesn't often have seeds,(you're probably saying 'I guessed as much. I've never seen ginger seed before! ').
Ginger grows from the root (the part you put in your food). There are tiny buds on the ginger known as eyes, these are what grow into ginger plants
To grow ginger, you need a couple things such as:
1. A 2 inch piece of store bought ginger
2.A medium sized flower pot, about 6-8 inches high
3.Medium grade loamy soil- roadside gardeners sell this. You can also achieve this by mixing sand with chicken manure.
Alright that's it!
Now on to planting;
Step 1: Fill the flowerpot 3/4 with loamy soil
Step 2: Place the piece of ginger with the buds facing upwards. If they are pointed downwards, they will take a longer time to germinate
Step 3:Fill up the rest of the flowerpot with soil. If the ginger is not buried properly, it may not have strong root system, and will not produce much.
Step 4: Place the flowerpot in a sunny place, and wait for the ginger to germinate. It may take up to three weeks to germinate, but be sure to water it lightly every day
When the ginger germinated, it should look some thing like this;
CARE OF GINGER
.Be sure to water often to prevent dehydration , and not to over water to prevent water-logging
Add phosphorus and potassium rich fertilizers. Nitrogen fertilizers make the leaves and stems grow big, but leave the ginger small
Ginger is best planted early in the year, shortly after the Harmattan, or in July.
You can begin to harvest your ginger after 7 or eight months, or after a ginger plant has five stems
MATURITY AND HARVESTING
Ginger plants reach full maturity after two years. During their second year, they produce flowers and seeds, but the seeds are less common, as they have little nutritional value .
The ginger can be harvested by Watering the soil, and carefully pull out by grabbing the
stems. It should look something like this:
USES OF GINGER
Ginger leaves can be used to spice meals such as beans, soups, rice, etc. But the most important part of the ginger plant is the root clump. It has a lot of uses such as:
Used in making herbal teas for curing colds
Used to make the all popular ginger beer, or root beer
Used to make ginger powder for spicing foods. It adds a hot spicy taste to ethnic foods
So that's it. All you need to know about growing ginger. Feel free to read my next article on health benefits of ginger
By Dunamis Williams
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