Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a tropical perennial grown for its knobby, fragrant underground rhizome — technically not a root at all, though it's used and referred to as one. Warm, peppery, and slightly sweet, ginger has been traded as a prized spice for thousands of years and remains a backbone flavor across Asian, Caribbean, and baking traditions alike.

Growing Ginger

Ginger is grown from a piece of rhizome (often a store-bought "hand" of ginger) planted a couple of inches deep in warm, rich, consistently moist soil. It's frost-tender and needs a long growing season of 8 to 10 months to produce a substantial harvest, so gardeners outside tropical climates typically grow it in a large pot that can be moved indoors before cold weather arrives.

Culinary Uses

Fresh ginger, grated or minced, is essential to stir-fries, curries, and marinades, its heat and brightness balancing rich or fatty ingredients. Dried, ground ginger has a very different, more concentrated and slightly musky character, better suited to baking — gingerbread and spice cakes rely on the dried form rather than fresh.