Hardy Gingers

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The family Zingiberaceae contains a number of volatile and essential oils including terpenoids and phenylpropanoids. The obvious aromatic nature of most parts of most species has led to the plants being used by mankind for a vast array of purposes throughout almost all of recorded human history. On top of this, various culinary gingers have been further utilized for their medicinal qualities. These uses are not merely the preserve of ancient traditional folklore, and modern trials are revealing new applications for the plants every year.

Several Alpinia species are utilized by humans. Aboriginal peoples have long favoured the blue-fruited Australian clumping cane, A. caerulea, both for its edible fruit and rhizome tips and for its leaves, which are traditionally used as a bed on which to lay meat while it is cooked in an earth oven.

Alpinia galanga, known as the greater galangale or simply galangale, is a very popular spice throughout Southeast Asia and particularly in the cuisine of Thailand. It is also known and used in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and southern China and is an occasional supplement in the Chinese five spice powder. While little encountered in the West these days, the galangale was a valuable and much used spice in the early Middle Ages. The rhizome is used both fresh and dried and is employed as a remedy for indigestion, colic, dysentery, food poisoning, problems of the spleen, and even to alleviate stomach cancer. An infusion of the leaves is also used as a stimulant and to combat rheumatism.

The leaves of Alpinia zerumbet were used traditionally as a wrapper for food, where they acted as both a preservative and a flavouring agent. A Brazilian research company affiliated with Federal University of Ceará has determined that the species contains compounds known as kavatoids, and the company markets a medicinal compound made up of the ground leaves for use in combating stress and hypertension.

Among the hardy Amomum species, two are edible. The immature inflorescence of A. dealbatum is eaten in curries, and the seed of the species used as a form of cardamom. The fruit of a number of gingers from several genera are used to produce different forms of this important spice. Amomum subulatum is cultivated in large quantity in Nepal and Sikkim, where its partially ripened seed pods are harvested and dried to form black cardamom, a valued spice with a smoky flavour that is employed in a wide range of Indian dishes.

Boesenbergia rotunda is not as widely seen, but the swollen tuberous roots, known as Chinese keys or fingerroot, are popular in Thailand, both in raw and cooked forms, to flavour a variety of dishes. The pickled tubers are a delicacy in Thailand and Indonesia, and the young shoots and fresh leaves of the species are also occasionally consumed. Despite its common name, B. rotunda is not eaten in China itself, but does have medicinal applications there; both the small rhizome and the tuberous roots are applied as a cure for stomach ailments as well as a general tonic particularly following childbirth. The species is also used to assist with coughs and diarrhoea, as a skin liniment, and for the treatment of rheumatism and muscular pains.

The genus Curcuma is one of the most important of the Zingiberaceae in terms of human applications. Curcuma amada has been the subject of several medical studies to assess its value as an anti-inflammatory agent. The same species is also grown as a crop in India, where it is known as the mango ginger, and where its fragrant rhizomes are used in curries in both fresh and dried form. Curcuma amada is also currently under assessment as a potential contraceptive.

Curcuma aromatica has been found to have powerful antibiotic properties. Chinese medicinal practitioners also promote this plant as a method of reducing and preventing cancers.

The species with the most applications is Curcuma longa. It is used to produce the spice turmeric, and its alternative name of Indian saffron gives an indication as to its other properties. Turmeric has been used for at least as long as root ginger (Zingiber officinale) and is an important agricultural crop in modern India, where it is a vital constituent of all curry powders and is added to almost every savoury dish. The rhizome also yields a very strong dye, derived from its primary dark yellow pigment, curcumin. The dye has been much confused with saffron (the word "kurkum", from which "curcuma" is derived, originally meant "saffron") and is used to colour the distinctive orange-yellow robes of Buddhist monks.

As a colourant, turmeric is used in the manufacture of cosmetics, confectionary, and cattle food. It also plays a part in several Indian religious ceremonies. Soaking unglazed white paper in a tincture of the rhizome and then drying it produces turmeric paper, used as a test for alkaloids and boric acid. Turmeric's medicinal applications are numerous also. Traditionally it has been used as a remedy for diarrhoea and rheumatism, and to relieve coughs, tuberculosis, and jaundice. Recent clinical studies have found it to be effective in reducing blood lipids, improving blood circulation to the heart, lowering blood pressure, removing gallstones, reducing inflammation, and alleviating pain. Most significant of all, however, are the results of studies at the University of California that established a link between turmeric and the prevention and slow-down of Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies had found that the neurodegenerative disease affects just one percent of the population over the age of sixty-five in rural India, and it seems that the regular consumption of the spice is the agent responsible. The plant may also have an application as a spermicidal agent.

Curcuma zedoaria, commonly known as zedoary, is another important Curcuma with an ancient medicinal history in China and Japan where the plant is used as a carminative and stomachic. Zedoary essential oil has some utility in the perfume and liquor industries, and the bitter-tasting rhizome is used in the preparation of some curry powders and is eaten as a vegetable in Thailand.

Cardamom, referred to as the queen of spices, is obtained from the dried seedpods of the tropical species Elettaria cardamomum. It is the third most valuable spice (only saffron and vanilla are more expensive) and is used across Asia and in the West for flavouring curries and for seasoning sweet pastries. The seeds are chewed as a breath freshener in India and are a flavouring additive to Arabian coffee. They also yield an oil that is widely used in perfumes, confectionaries, and liqueurs.

Globba is one of the least used genera of the Zingiberaceae. Some species are occasionally seen as traditional medicines. The spicy inflorescence bulbils can be eaten as a vegetable.

Another of the lesser-used genera is Hedychium, whose main relationship to mankind has always been as an ornamental. The flowers of H. coccineum have been used as a talisman of good fortune and health, and those of H. coronarium, the butterfly ginger, are occasionally steamed and eaten as a vegetable in Thailand. Hedychium coronarium and H. gardnerianum are both introduced alien species much used in Hawaii for the creation of traditional welcome garlands and other floral displays. The essential oil derived from the rhizome of H. coronarium has also found a limited application as a mild tranquilizer and antibiotic. This species, along with H. flavum, has a long-standing history of use in the Ayurvedic medicinal system for the prevention of cataracts.

Hedychium spicatum is undoubtedly the most widely utilized species in the genus. The powdered rhizome produces a flavouring found in many Asian commercial preparations of chewing tobacco. The flavouring is also used as incense. The essential oil of this species is widely available and is used for aromatherapy and the production of perfumes. It has also been found to have tranquilizing, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties.

The mildly spicy leaves of Kaempferia galanga, the lesser galangale, play an important part in Malaysian and Indonesian cooking. This species is widely grown across southern Asia for its rhizomes, which are sliced and dried, or grated and used fresh, to flavour savoury dishes. Kaempferia galanga is also cultivated in India where the rhizomes are steam distilled to produce an essential oil and in New Guinea where it has a history as an hallucinogen. Finally, traditional Asian medicines use the rhizome as an expectorant and carminative. Recent studies have revealed that K. pulchra yields two pimarane diterpenes that have an anti-inflammatory action when applied topically. Kaempferia rotunda has multiple applications. The tubers are used to treat abdominal illness and gastric complaints, the small rhizome has been found to relieve stomachache and is utilized in the production of cosmetics, and the crushed leaves are applied as a body lotion.

The southern African species Siphonochilus aethiopicus was brought to the brink of extinction, largely as a result of overexploitation of wild populations for traditional medicine, where it is one of the most coveted native plants. South Africans have cultivated this plant for many years for its highly aromatic elongated roots and tubers which have various applications. The Zulu peoples chew the rhizomes and roots fresh to treat asthma, hysteria, and colds, and administer a preparation to horses to ward off illness. They also utilize the plant as a protection against lightning and snakes. The species is valued by the Swati (Swazi) people as a treatment for malaria and a painkiller during menstruation.

The genus Zingiber may safely be described as the most utilized member of the Zingiberaceae. The properties of Z. montanum have only recently been investigated, but a preparation of the rhizomes has been found to relieve cough and asthma, and when powdered the rhizome has antidiarrhoeal properties. The essential oil of the plant was found in 1996 to have antibacterial and antifungal properties, and the species is also used as an antidote to snake venom.

While Zingiber officinale is certainly the best-known species in the genus, Z. cassumnar probably ranks as the ginger with the greatest number of applications, all of them medicinal, and most of them recently discovered. The rhizome is used in traditional medicine primarily to prevent nausea and also to cure headaches. Numerous clinical trials conducted since the 1980s have revealed an extraordinary range of properties and effectiveness in curing aches and pains, inflammations, joint problems, muscle spasms, sprains and strains, torn muscles and ligaments, asthma, catarrh, chronic colds, colic, constipation, diarrhoea, fevers, flatulence, heartburn, immune problems, influenza, respiratory problems, and indeed nausea. In addition, two studies conducted in the late 1990s demonstrated that a curcuminoid derived from Z. cassumnar operates as an anti-tumour agent and protects cells suffering from oxidative stress. The potential commercial applications for a plant with proven ability to fight both cancers and the aging process are immense, but yet more studies have shown Z. cassumnar to be effective as a fungicide, antihistamine, and insecticide. Truly this is a wonder plant.

Zingiber mioga seems rather humble in comparison to its sister species, but the plant is used to combat both malaria and intestinal parasites. Although not native to Japan Z. mioga has long been cultivated there as a crop plant and the tender new growing shoots are widely eaten in as a vegetable in both fresh and preserved form. Another species with limited uses is Z. rubens. Its pulped rhizomes are a cure for dizziness, and its seedpods are occasionally seen as a spice in Indian cooking.

Zingiber officinale, the root ginger, barely requires an introduction, but has been cultivated across Asia for millennia for its culinary and medicinal properties. Ginger is regarded as probably humankind's first and oldest spice — another ginger (turmeric) may have been used earlier, but primarily as a dye. Charak, an ancient Indian sage of medicine, wrote: "Every good quality is found in ginger". The plant was the most valuable spice in Roman times and so it continues, with the species in demand internationally as never before. In Europe the primary application is to flavour ginger beer, ginger wine, and various biscuits and confectionaries. Zingiber officinale is a substantial crop plant in Jamaica for the production of its preserved (crystallized) young rhizomes, and those same rhizomes are, of course, synonymous with virtually all Asian cuisines. The medicinal properties of the plant are also well established. King's American Dispensatory guide of 1898 (the 18th edition, by Felter and Lloyd) stated:

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. Ginger is stimulant, rubefacient, errhine, and sialagogue. When chewed it occasions an increased flow of saliva, and when swallowed it acts as a stimulating tonic, stomachic, and carminative. ... It is much used to disguise other drugs. ... It has been used in combination with astringents or other agents, in diarrhoea and dysentery ... in cholera morbus and cholera infantum. ... It is eminently useful in habitual flatulency, atonic dyspepsia, hysteria, and enfeebled and relaxed habits, especially of old and gouty individuals; and is excellent to relieve nausea, pains and cramps of the stomach and bowels. ... Ginger is occasionally of value in fevers ... is popular and efficient as a remedy for breaking up colds, forms an excellent poultice to indolent ulcers; and has been used as a sialagogue to relieve paralytic affections of the tongue, toothache, and relaxed uvula. Ginger ... has relieved violent headache.

Current applications are as a stimulant in cases of bad circulation and cramps, as a promoter of perspiration in the treatment of fever, and as a gargle for sore throats. It is also the basis of many treatments for muscle and ligament sprains. The sesquiterpenes in Z. officinale have been found to have specific effects against cold viruses. Ginger also regulates blood cholesterol levels.

Zingiber spectabile has some minor applications; the leaves are pounded and an infusion made to bathe infected eyelids, and the rhizome is occasionally utilized as a spice. Zingiber zerumbet is commonly known as the shampoo ginger. Water trapped in the pouched bracts mixes with the sap of the inflorescence to form a thick oozing juice that has long been used as a natural hair wash and is now also a constituent of commercial shampoos manufactured by both Freemans and Paul Mitchell. The young rhizomes are eaten as a vegetable, have been found to have anti-inflammatory properties, and are useful in combating abdominal pain and bladder diseases. Perhaps most significantly the rhizome has also yielded the drug zerumbone, which is a proven anticarcinogenic agent.