- Basic properties of ginger
- The type of tea used for tea and condiment purposes
- Propagation from tubers
- Types of ginger for use in the kitchen
- Ginger as a flowering plant
- tips and tricks
In Germany, ginger has established itself as a basis for tea or as a spice in the last ten years. In addition to the commercially available ginger bulbs, there are many other types of plants that also belong to the ginger family.
Basic properties of ginger
The various types of ginger are almost always herbaceous plants, the most important part of which for harvesting lies below the surface of the earth. Ginger, which can only be cultivated seasonally in our latitudes, stores its energy reserves in a juicy tuber so that it can sprout again after the winter dormancy. Since all types of ginger come from tropical latitudes without exception, ginger can only be cultivated in buckets or under glass.
The type of tea used for tea and condiment purposes
The commercially available tubers of ginger are usually the underground plant components of the subfamily Zingiberoideae. This in turn includes more than 1200 different varieties, including:
- Gagnepainia
- hemiorchis
- Camptandra
- turmeric
- Cautleya
- i.a.
Propagation from tubers
The ginger family from the subfamily Zingiberoideae is not generally propagated from seed. Rather, some of the rhizome-like tubers are kept after harvest and overwintered in a cool, dry basement. New plants can then be grown in spring from parts of the tubers that are at least the size of a dice.
Types of ginger for use in the kitchen
Many types of ginger bulbs are suitable for consumption. For example, the Alpinia galanga variety is also known as Thai ginger. Chinese ginger of the Boesenbergia rotundia variety is sometimes traded under the name fingerroot. The stalk of Cautleya spicata is eaten as a vegetable in Asia, but the plant is also said to have medicinal effects.
Ginger as a flowering plant
The more than 1000 different subspecies of the ginger family are not only very valuable as part of the Asian cuisine. Many ginger varieties also produce amazingly large and exotic flower formations. These types of ginger can theoretically also be propagated by seeds, but the summer season in this country is usually too short for the seeds to ripen.
tips and tricks
The spice curry is actually not a spice in its own right, but a mixture of spices. An essential component of this is turmeric, which is obtained from the root of a type of ginger.
WK