Ginger preserved in syrup, and sometimes called Green Ginger, was also imported during the middle ages, and regarded as a delicacy of the choicest kind.
The plant affording ginger must have been known to Marco Polo (circa 1280-90), who speaks of observing it both in China and India. John of Montecorvino, who visited India about 1292 ([see p. 521)], describes ginger as a plant like a flag, the root of which can be dug up and transported. Nicolo Conti also gave some description of the plant and of the collection of the root, as witnessed by him in India.[2358]
The Venetians received ginger by way of Egypt; yet some of the superior kinds were conveyed from India overland by the Black Sea, as stated by Marino Sanudo[2359] about 1306.
Ginger was introduced into America by Francisco de Mendoça, who took it from the East Indies to New Spain.[2360] It was shipped for commercial purposes from the Island of St. Domingo as early at least as 1585; and from Barbados in 1654.[2361] According to Renny,[2362] 22,053 cwt. were exported from the West Indies to Spain in 1547.
Description—Ginger is known in two forms, namely the rhizome dried with its epidermis, in which case it is called coated; or deprived of epidermis, and then termed scraped or uncoated. The pieces, which are called by the spice-dealers races or hands, rarely exceed 4 inches in length, and have a somewhat palmate form, being made up of a series of short, laterally compressed, lobe-like shoots or knobs, the summit of each of which is marked by a depression indicating the former attachment of the leafy stem.
To produce the uncoated ginger, which is that preferred for medicinal use, the fresh rhizome is scraped, washed, and then dried in the sun.
Thus prepared, it has a pale buff hue, and a striated, somewhat fibrous surface. It breaks easily, exhibiting a short and farinaceous fracture with numerous bristle-like fibres. When cut with a knife the younger or terminal portion of the rhizome appears pale yellow, soft and amylaceous, while the older part is flinty, hard and resinous.
Coated ginger, or that which has been dried without the removal of the epidermis, is covered with a wrinkled, striated brown integument, which imparts to it a somewhat coarse and crude appearance, which is usually remarkably less developed on the flat parts of the rhizome. Internally, it is usually of a less bright and delicate hue than ginger from which the cortical part has been removed. Much of it indeed is dark, horny and resinous.
Ginger has an agreeable aromatic odour with a strong pungent taste.
Varieties—Those at present found in the London market are distinguished as Jamaica, Cochin, Bengal, and African. The first three are scraped gingers; the last named is a coated ginger, that is to say, it still retains its epidermis. Jamaica Ginger is the sort most esteemed; and next to it the Cochin. But of each kind there are several qualities, presenting considerable variation inter se.