Linda Mills, age 9, of overland Park, Kan., for her question:
WHERE DO WE GET GINGER?
Ginger is a spice that is used as a popular flavoring. It comes from the roots of ginger plants. Originally a native of the East Indies, it has been introduced into and now grows in Japan, the West Indies, South America and West Africa.
The stems and grasslike leaves of ginger plants spring directly from the knotty, root bearing underground stem called the rhizome. On the stems grow clusters of white flowers, streaked with purple.
To make black ginger, the roots of the ginger plant are dug up and dried whole after the leaves wither. To make white ginger, the roots are scraped and washed before they are dried.
The ginger can be preserved if it is boiled and dipped in syrup every 24 hours for a week. This procedure is followed often before ginger goes to market.
The finest ginger comes from Puerto Rico and Jamaica. It is usually sold in extract form. Most of the preserved ginger is imported from China.
Chefs and bakers use ginger as a spice to flavor such favorite items as gingersnaps and gingerbread, and the flavoring is also used to make ginger tea, a home remedy that is often recommended for stomach aches.
Many of us have tasted candied ginger or such drinks as ginger ale or ginger beer.
Ginger oil is used as a medicine, internally for the stomach, and externally for pains, like toothache. Its most common use is to season food.
Wild ginger is a plant of the birthwort family and is not actually related to true ginger. It grows in the shady woodlands of the northern United States. Wild ginger is a low, woolly plant, with heart shaped leaves.
You'll find wild ginger growing close to the ground or on it, where crawling beetles and ants can easily reach it with pollen. Like true ginger, its root is also used as a spice.
Cardamom is the fruit of several plants in the ginger family. The fruit and seeds grow in a small shell about three quarters of an inch long. The seeds give an oil that is used in medicine as a stimulant.
American and English medicine recognize only the cardamom which grows in Malabar, India, as the true or official cardamom. This kind of cardamom also grows in Jamaica.
Cardamom reaches a height of 10 feet and has white flowers with blue strips and a yellow margin.
People in some countries use the cardamom fruit as a seasoning for sauces, curries and cordials. North Germans like pastry flavored with cardamom.
Other forms of cardamom grow in the East Indies, the Bengal region and also in Sri Lanka.