SPICES. 357 



is much superior in quality to the former. British 

 plantation ginger pays eleven shillings per cwt, im- 

 port duty, and all other is not admitted under fifty- 

 three shillings per cwt ; these two causes unite in 

 confining the home consumption of ginger almost 

 entirely to that coming from the West Indies. 



The ginger plant has been cultivated in this 

 country as a stove exotic since about the year 1600. 

 It has a perennial root, which creeps and increases 

 under ground in tuberous joints, from each of which 

 arises in the spring a green reed-like stalk of about 

 two feet and a half in height, having narrow and lan- 

 ceolate leaves. The stem is annual ; the flowering 

 stalk rises directly from the root, ending in an oblong 

 scaly spike ; from each of these scales a single white 

 and blue flower is produced. The ginger of commerce 

 is distinguished into black and white ; but the differ- 

 ence of colour depends wholly on the modes of pre- 

 paration. For both of these kinds the tubers are 

 allowed to be ripe, that is, the roots are taken up 

 after the annual stalks are withered. For the black, 

 they are scalded in boiling water and then dried in 

 the sun ; and for the white, they are scraped clean 

 and dried carefully without being scalded. The best 

 and soundest roots are selected for the latter process, 

 and therefore white ginger is, independent of the 

 manner of preparation, superior to the black, and it 

 always bears a much higher price in the market. 

 When a preserve is to be made of the roots, they are 

 dug up in the sap, the stalks not being then more 

 than five or six inches long. For this purpose the 

 young roots are scalded, then washed in cold water 

 and afterwards carefully peeled. This process lasts 

 for three or four days, during which period the water 

 is frequently changed. 



When the cleansing is complete, the tubers are 

 put into jars, and covered with weak syrup of 



