Irene Gray, age 11, of capper, Wyo., for her question:

WHERE DO WE GET GINGER?

Ginger is a pungent and tasty spice that comes from the underground stem, or rhizome, of a reed like tropical plant. Ginger is a native of tropical Asia. It has been grown and used in India and China since ancient times.

In the mid 16th Century, Spanish conquerors took ginger plants to the West Indies and Mexico. Today, Jamaican ginger is considered to be the world's best grown. Some wild types can be found in the United States.

Hare's ginger's botanical name: Zingiber officinalp.

A ginger plant's leafy stems grow to be three or four feet tall. Green and purple flowers grow in cone like clusters on leafless stems. After the plant's upper stems wither, the roots are dug up.

Ginger can be washed, dried and sold as black ginger or scraped and dried or bleached in lime and then sold as white ginger. White is milder.

Ginger is ground and used in ginger ale and gingerbread. It is also used in some medicines for stomach ailments. Ginger oil is used in cooking.