Ginger
The pungent, aromatic rhizome of the ginger plant, valued for the warmth and spice it lends to drinks whether infused fresh, brewed, or fermented.
Documented in
- Beetroot Turmeric by Empress
Listed in its declared ingredients as “Ginger”.
- Ficus Zing by Empress
Listed in its declared ingredients as “Ginger”.
- Ginger Goji-berry by Empress
Listed in its declared ingredients as “Ginger”.
How ginger is prepared
Ginger is steeped to make herbal teas, brewed and fermented into ginger beer and traditional ginger ale, blended into fortified ginger wine, and used as a flavoring and mixer in modern sodas and cocktails. It also flavors fermented tonics and is a common addition to spiced milk teas.
Other preparations
FERAL uses Ginger, Allspice, Juniper and Chili Extract in N°2 White Beet Ginger Allspice: a botanical extract of ginger, allspice, juniper berries and chili pepper. The extraction method is not specified.[8]
In depth
Origins in Asia and the ancient spice routes
Ginger is a cultivated plant that no longer grows wild, first domesticated in Maritime Southeast Asia by Austronesian peoples, who carried it in their canoes across the Pacific in prehistoric times. As it moved westward through India and into the Mediterranean world, it became one of the earliest Asian spices reaching Europe. Early written records point to its long place in East Asian daily life, with accounts describing Confucius eating ginger with his meals, and later Chinese ships carrying potted ginger on voyages. From these roots it entered kitchens and, importantly, cups, becoming an ingredient steeped in boiling water to make a warming drink to which honey could be added.[1]
Ginger tea across Asia
The simplest and oldest way ginger reaches a glass is as an infusion. Ginger tea has a long history as a traditional herbal drink and folk medicine across East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. During the Tang dynasty, ginger was among the flavorings added to counteract the bitterness of tea. Regional traditions diverge widely: in Korea, saenggang-cha is made by boiling fresh slices or dissolving honey-preserved ginger in hot water, often garnished with jujubes and pine nuts. In the Philippines, salabat is brewed from crushed raw ginger and sweetened, served during the cold Christmas season and prized as a throat remedy. In Indonesia, wedang jahe enriches ginger with palm sugar, pandan, and warming spices, while across Malaysia and Singapore teh halia blends ginger into strong sweet black tea with milk. In India and Pakistan, grated ginger is brewed into milky, sugared tea and folded into masala chai.[2]
Brewed ginger beer in England
Brewed ginger beer emerged in Yorkshire, England, in the mid-18th century and spread to North America by around 1790. It was originally a genuinely fermented drink, historically containing as much as about 11 percent alcohol, until English law limited it to around 2 percent in the mid-19th century. Traditional ginger beer is produced by fermenting ginger, sugar, and water with a symbiotic culture of yeast and Lactobacillus bacteria, known either as a "ginger beer plant" or a simpler "ginger bug" starter cultivated from the wild microbes on ginger skin. This fermentation gives the drink its cloudy appearance, spicy bite, and drier, less sweet character compared with ginger ale. Modern versions are largely made non-alcoholic by keeping fermentation short or by artificial carbonation, though brewed alcoholic ginger beer is still sold worldwide.[3]
Ginger ale and the rise of the soft drink
Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavored with ginger, distinct from ginger beer and generally clearer and milder. The older golden style, dark and strongly spiced, is credited to an Irish apothecary who created it in Belfast in the 1850s. Around 1904 a Canadian chemist introduced a paler, drier style with a gentler ginger character, which grew enormously popular. Traditional ginger ale was itself fermented from a microbial starter, with carbonation arising naturally from the yeast, though most commercial versions today are simply flavored and force-carbonated. Ginger ale became especially prominent in the United States during Prohibition as a mixer for spirits, and it remains a familiar mixer in cocktails and punch, an ingredient in shandy, and a common non-alcoholic stand-in for sparkling wine.[4]
Ginger wine and the British festive tradition
Ginger wine is a fortified drink made by fermenting a blend of ginger, raisins, sugar, and yeast, often strengthened by blending with brandy. The style is associated with England from the 18th century, and its popularity grew in the 19th century amid a widespread belief that ginger offered protection against cholera, alongside older reputations as a digestive aid. It became one of the main ingredients of the Whisky Mac cocktail, in which it is combined with Scotch. In Scotland, ginger wine is a traditional drink at Hogmanay, and a non-alcoholic version is commonly prepared so that children can share in the celebration.[5]
Jamaica ginger and the perils of Prohibition
A darker chapter in ginger's beverage history unfolded in the United States around a patent medicine known as Jamaica ginger, or "Jake." Essentially a tincture of ginger root, it contained roughly 70 to 80 percent ethanol and had been sold at drugstores since the 1860s as a remedy in small doses. During Prohibition it became a legal route to alcohol, and to keep it classed as an undrinkable medicine, regulators required bitter ginger solids in the formula. Some makers illegally swapped in cheaper additives, and one substitution, a plasticizer later found to be a potent neurotoxin, caused a paralysis known as "jake leg" that afflicted tens of thousands. The episode entered American blues and country music and stands as a cautionary tale in the story of ginger-based drinks.[6]
Ginger in modern fermented and low-alcohol drinks
Ginger remains a mainstay of contemporary no- and low-alcohol beverages, both as a headline flavor and as a spice added to fermented tonics. It is a frequent flavoring in kombucha, the effervescent fermented tea drink of Chinese origin that spread through Russia and Europe and became globally popular in the early 21st century; fruit and spices such as ginger are commonly added, and commercial kombucha typically keeps alcohol below 0.5 percent. The same craft-fermentation revival that renewed interest in kombucha has driven a return to home-brewed ginger beer and ginger bug sodas, while ginger ale and ginger beer continue to anchor classic mixed drinks such as the Moscow Mule and the Dark 'n' Stormy, roles readily filled by their non-alcoholic forms.[7]
References
- [1]EncyclopediaGinger — Wikipedia↑§1
- [2]EncyclopediaGinger tea — Wikipedia↑§2
- [3]EncyclopediaGinger beer — Wikipedia↑§3
- [4]EncyclopediaGinger ale — Wikipedia↑§4
- [5]EncyclopediaGinger wine — Wikipedia↑§5
- [6]EncyclopediaJamaica ginger — Wikipedia↑§6
- [7]EncyclopediaKombucha — Wikipedia↑§7
- [8]Product informationN°2 White beet Ginger Allspice↑prepared