GINGER POWDER

Ginger is an ancient medicinal plant belonging to Zingiberaceae family which is officially known as Zingiber officinale Rosc and it is indigenous to south-eastern Asia (Purseglove et al., 1981). It is one of the earliest known treasured spices esteemed for its pungency and aroma, viewed as a healing gift from God by Indian Ayurvedic systems. Since a very long time ginger is known for its medicinal value as a digestive aid, spiritual beverage, aphrodisiac, antiemetic, anticancer, anti-platelet, antimicrobial, anti-parasitic, anti-oxidant, antiinflammatory, analgesic, hepato-protective, and immune stimulating properties (Malhotra and Singh, 2003). India is the largest producer and consumer of ginger contributing about 31% of total global production followed by China, Nepal, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Thailand. In the countries such as Canada, U.K, U.S.A. ginger is used in soft drink manufacturing industry, baking industry and meat processing industry up to a great extend but it rarely used for cooking. Ginger brine is most popular in Japan.

Orissa, Kerala, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh are the major ginger producing states in India. Among which Kerala contribute 33 per cent to the total production by which it has prove to be the largest ginger producing state in India (Gupta, 2008). Cochin ginger and Calicut ginger are the popular Indian ginger varieties in the world market. India produces 6,83,000 tons of ginger per annum that is almost 1/3rd of world‟s total production (FAO). 30 per cent of total production of ginger in India is transferred to dry ginger, 50 per cent is taken as fresh or green ginger and the rest part is used as seed materials. Kerala is the largest producer of dry ginger in India, which has taken a major share in export.

Ginger one of the oldest and most important spices, consists of the prepared and semi-dried rehizones of zinziber officinale Hoscoe belonging to family zingiber areas. The rehizones known in the trade as hands or race reach the spice trade either with the outer cortical layer intact (coated of unscrapped ginger) or the outer cost partially or completely removed (uncoated or scraped ginger). The remove their appearances, some singer of particular grades are bleached also by various means one among which is called lime giving rise to process lining.

Ginger possesses a warm pungent taste and pleasant small, hence its wide use as flavourant in numerous food preparations and beverages, savory dishes and curries, baked food confectionery, ginger bread, soup pickles and many other soft drinks, like most pungent spices, ginger is consumed all over the world, particularly in tropical and warm countries. It dilates the superficial vesicles of the skin, resulting first in the feeling of warmth, then in the increased activity of glands and perspiration and finally in a marked cooling effect on the skin.

The odour of rehizone is caused by the presence of a volatile oil (1 to 35), which can be, isolated by steam distillation of the combinated spice. The pungent principles, on the other hand are non volatile and must be extracted with peroolation with a suitable solvent, which procedure yields the so called oleoresin of ginger. Since the essential oil are contained chiefly in the epidermal tissue, great care should be taken in peeling, and excessive scraping must be avoided indeed unpeeled ginger, constitute a more suitable raw material for distillation purpose than peeled ginger.