Ginger

Zingiber officinale · adrak · ada

Heat with a citrus edge — the base's brighter half.

What it is

Ginger is the knobbled fresh rhizome of a tropical plant, warm and pungent with a citrusy bite. Used fresh — grated, crushed or as paste — it brings a bright heat quite different from dried ground ginger, which is a separate, mellower ingredient.

Where it comes from

Ginger is grown across the tropics and used throughout the subcontinent, most often ground with garlic into the paste that founds so many dishes. Dried and ground (sonth) it appears in spice blends and sweets.

What it's called

Ginger · adrak (Hindi) · ada (Bengali). Dried ground ginger is sonth. Botanically Zingiber officinale.

In the kitchen

Fresh ginger goes into the base with garlic, is slivered over a finished dish, and steeped for tea; a little grated in at the end lifts a gravy. Fresh and dried behave differently and are not interchangeable.

What we know about the claims

Ginger's long folk-use for nausea and digestion has some genuine study behind it, particularly for nausea; in cooking amounts, treat it as the flavour it is. An everyday, wholesome ingredient.

Choosing and buying

Everywhere. Choose firm, heavy rhizomes with smooth, taut skin; young ginger is milder and less fibrous.