This article is made by InfoHerbal and was first published on May 13th, 2010. This article is free to redistributed for non-commercial purposes as long as you include the name of the author and source, and not make changes to the contents of the article.

Ginger-rhizomeGinger is a herbs that easy and a lot to find in almost all places in Asia, Ginger is a herbs that is very popular because it can be processed into various products, either as herbal medicines, food, drinks, candy, etc. In some Asian countries, this plant is widely cultivated, sometimes this herbs planted in the courtyard of the house. They called it Living Pharmacy.

At the first time, ginger plant comes from Asia Pacific, The spread area of these plants are from mainland India to China, therefore this two nations is known as the first user of this herbs, they use it both as a medicine or as spice ingredients mixed into the food or drink. In the Western world, a lot of us are fortunate enough to have medical insurance and we feel comfortable that if we get ill, we will be taken care of. However, it is important not to take things like this for granted, and to try and look after ourselves as much a possible. Introducing ginger into your diet is a very easy way to do this.

Ginger plants are part of Zingiberaceae family, the other plant that in the same family with ginger is turmeric (Curcuma domestica), galangal (Languas galanga) and others.

Classification of ginger
Division: Spermatophyta
Sub-division: Angiospermae
Class: Monocotyledoneae
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Zingiber
Species: Zingiber officinale

Ginger classified into 3 types of groupings, This classification is based on shape, color and the ginger rhizome. Generally we know the 3 varieties of ginger, they are:

  1. Large yellow ginger / white ginger are often called elephant ginger or rhinoceros ginger. Their Rhizome is bigger and fatter, segment also more bloated than other varieties. This Ginger is commonly consumed at a young age or an old age, in the form of processed or fresh.
  2. Small yellow ginger/ white ginger, this ginger has Small rhizome segments, slightly flat shape until slightly puffy. This Ginger is harvested always after the ginger reach the old age. Small yellow ginger has more volatile oils than the elephant ginger, this makes it more spicy than the other types of ginger, besides that it also has a high fiber. This Ginger is very good to be made as ingredients of medicines, or to be extracted for oleoresin and volatile oil.
  3. Red Ginger has a red colored rhizome and has a smaller size than the small white ginger. Red Ginger is always harvested at the old age, along with a small ginger, red ginger also contain a high volatile oil, so the red ginger is commonly used as ingredients of medicines.

The benefits of ginger are many, because we can process it into various products, such as for food spice, beverages, natural medicines ingredients and others.

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