Ginger: The Genus Zingiber PDF

Preface

Among the crops used by humankind, the history of spices is perhaps the most adventurous, the most fascinating, and the most romantic. In the misty distant past, when primitive humans were roaming around the forests in search of food and shelter, they might have tested and tasted many roots and leaves and might have selected those that were aromatic and spicy as being of special value, and might have used them to propitiate their primitive gods to save them from the raging storm, thunder, lightning, and rain. Out of the misty darkness of that distant past, the early civilizations evolved when humans settled down and started practicing agriculture. In all civilizations the aromatic plants were given special status, and many were probably used as offerings to gods. Gradually humans might have started using them for curing various illnesses, and in course of time spices and aromatic plants had acquired magical associations about their properties. Among all the civilizations, it was in the Indian and Chinese that profound knowledge gradually evolved on the use of plants and plant products for the treatment of human ills.

From the dawn of human civilization, spices were sought after as eagerly as gold and precious stones. Discovery of the spice land was one of the aims of all circumnavigations and the great explorations that the period of Renaissance witnessed. One such navigational venture in search of the famed land of spices and ivory reached the ancient Malabar Coast of India on May 20, 1498. Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India. The decades that followed witnessed the Portuguese establishment of trade relations with the Malabar Coast, and subsequently they emerged as powerful players in the game of power politics of the region. The landing of da Gama also witnessed the transition of medieval to the modern India and the rising of the global imperialism and colonial power struggles. The Portuguese and subsequently the Dutch, French, and finally the British established their supremacy over the spice trade in the centuries that followed.

Ginger has been valued as a spice and medicinal plant from ancient times both in India and in China. For the ancient Indians it was the mahaoushadha and vishwabheshaja (the great medicine, the universal cure, respectively). It was among the best-known crude drugs in the Chinese and Japanese systems of medicine too. Ginger is now used universally in traditional medicine as well as in modern medicine for the treatment of nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy and for the prevention of travel and sea sickness. Many countries have approved ginger as a nonprescription drug for the prevention of motion sickness. It is also recognized as an anti-inflammatory drug useful in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, being on a par with many steroidal preparations.

Ginger plays a very significant role as a home remedy in that it is a sure cure for indigestion. It is indispensable in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian cooking, as well as in the cuisines of many South and Southeast and Far East Asian countries.

This book is the first comprehensive publication on ginger. It covers all aspects of ginger—botany, crop improvement, chemistry, biotechnology, production technology in the major producing countries, diseases, pests, harvesting, processing, products, economics and marketing, pharmacology, medicinal uses, uses as spice and flavorant. There is also a chapter on related, economically important species. The book comprises 17 chapters, each written by experts, giving an in-depth analysis of each aspect of ginger, followed by an extensive bibliography. We have tried to collect and collate as much information as possible about the subject presented in each chapter.

The editors of this volume have extensive experience in genetic resources conservation, botany, breeding, and biotechnology of ginger. As the former national co-coordinator of spices research in India, the senior editor, P.N. Ravindran, had the opportunity of associating with all the ginger research work being carried out in India, the only country having a strong research and development program on ginger. The value of this volume is enhanced considerably by the excellent and comprehensive review on ginger chemistry authored by Prof. Vernin and Prof. Parkyani. Prof. Kimura of Japan has authored a very valuable chapter on the pharmacology of ginger. The chapters on botany and crop improvement, biotechnology, diseases, processing, and marketing are also very extensive and authoritative. The production technologies of ginger differ in various producing countries. In order to give a full picture of the ginger production, three chapters have been included that represent the major producing countries from three regions: India, China, and Nigeria.

Research carried out during the past two decades led to the isolation of many chemical constituents of ginger and from the related taxa, some of which may be the basis for the medicinal properties of ginger. The medicinal uses of ginger in the Indian and Chinese systems of medicines have been presented in the chapter on medicinal properties and uses. The use of ginger in the kitchen as a spice and flavorant is also presented in a detailed chapter. A short chapter on the constraints and yield gaps is also included.

This book is targeted to the students and researchers in the areas of horticulture, agriculture, botany, medicinal plants, ginger producers, processors, exporters, and end users. We have tried very hard to select the best people available to author the chapters and also to gather as much information as possible. Collecting and collating such information was not easy, and many people and many organizations helped us. Prof. Roland Hardman, the General Editor of the Series on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Industrial Profiles, has kindly commissioned us to edit this book. He has been a source of help and inspiration, and supported us by the regular supply of updated literature searches and other advice. It was his goodwill that helped the senior editor, Dr. P.N. Ravindran, in getting the four volumes, including this one, edited. The editors, especially the senior editor, are extremely thankful to Prof. Hardman. We are also very much indebted to the publishers Taylor and Francis, London, and to the CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, for accepting the recommendation of Prof. Harman and for entrusting the responsibility with us for editing this monograph. We are also extremely thankful to the CRC Press for publishing this first-ever international monograph on ginger.

We hope that this book will be invaluable to all those who are involved in the production, processing, marketing, and/or use of ginger. It is further hoped that it will kindle interest in this crop in the minds of the readers and will act as a catalyst for more research and developmental activities in solving the many problems besetting this wonderful spice and medicinal plant.