Ginger (redirected from Jamaica ginger)

ginger, common name for members of the Zingiberaceae, a family of tropical and subtropical perennial herbs, chiefly of Indomalaysia. The aromatic oils of many are used in making condiments, perfumes, and medicines, especially stimulants and preparations to ease stomach distress. Ginger (Zingiber officinale), cultivated since ancient times in many countries, no longer grows wild. Commercial ginger is made from the root, either preserved by candying or dried for medicines and spice. Zedoary (Curcuma zedoaria), turmeric (C. longa), and the seeds of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) are similarly used, the latter two often combined with ginger to make one kind of curry. Turmeric root yields a yellow dye, and a compound derived from it, curcumin, is used to promote bile secretion by the liver. C. angustifolia is an East Indian arrowroot. Ginger is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Zingiberales, family Zingiberaceae.

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ginger

Herbaceous perennial plant (Zingiber officinale; family Zingiberaceae), probably native to South Asia, or its aromatic, pungent rhizome, which is used as a spice, flavouring, food, and medicine. The spice has a slightly biting taste and is used, usually dried and ground, to flavour breads, sauces, curry dishes, confections, pickles, and ginger ale. The fresh rhizome is used in cooking. The leafy stems of the plant bear flowers in dense conelike spikes. Oil distilled from the rhizome is used in foods and perfumes.

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ginger

1. any of several zingiberaceous plants of the genus Zingiber, esp Z. officinale of the East Indies, cultivated throughout the tropics for its spicy hot-tasting underground stem

2. any of certain related plants

3. 

a. a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown colour

b. (as adjective): ginger hair

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ginger [′jin·jər]

(botany)

Zingiber officinale.An erect perennial herb of the family Zingiberaceae having thick, scaly branched rhizomes; a spice oleoresin is made by an organic solvent extraction of the ground dried rhizome.

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Ginger - A simple functional language from the University of Warwick with parallel constructs.

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Ginger 

(Zingiber officinale), a perennial tropical plant of the family Zingiberaceae. It is cultivated in the south of Asia. The rhizomes are fleshy, aboveground stalks up to 1 m tall, the leaves are lanceolate, the flowers are violet yellow and gathered into short, spike-shaped inflorescences. The rhizome has a pleasant aromatic odor, caused by the presence of an essential oil (1.2–3 percent in the air-dried root) and a stinging taste, dependent on the presence of the phenol-like substance, gingerol.

The dry rhizome, under the name “ginger,” is used in cooking as a condiment and is also used in the food industry for aromati-zation of certain products (jam, liqueur). According to the method of processing, two commercial varieties are distinguished: white, or Jamaica, ginger is washed, peeled, and sun-dried; black ginger is unpeeled, boiled or scalded, and sun-dried.