16 BULLETIN 503, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
per cent ash, and has a fuel value of 225 calories per pound. Its 
water content is so high that it may be grouped with the succulent 
roots in spite of the fact that starch constitutes the principal carbo- 
hydrate present. As might be expected from the stringy character 
of the roots, the percentage of crude fiber is rather high. Though 
certain varieties of horse-radish are sometimes cooked as a vegetable 
and it is used for seasoning pickles, for making sauces,! to serve with 
meat, etc., 1ts most common use in this country is as a condiment, 
when it is mixed with vinegar. It 1s popularly supposed that the 
vinegar softens the crude fiber to some extent and makes it more di- 
gestible. . 
Ginger, the underground rootstock of the ginger plant (Zingiber 
officinale), 1s perhaps most frequently used dry as a spice, though 
the fresh reot or green ginger 1s common in autumn, being used in 
pickle making, preserving, and in other ways. Large quantities of 
ginger root are preserved in rich sugar sirup, “ Canton ginger” in 
its round stone jars being an old-fashioned confection which is still 
much prized. ‘The crystallized or candied ginger is even more com- 
mon; it, like preserved ginger, is frequently served as a sweetmeat. 
It is also used in making desserts of various sorts” and is generally 
used like candied fruits. While the nutritive value of preserved 
or crystallized ginger depends, of course, quite largely on the 
added sugar, the fresh root contains some nutritive material, the 
average composition being 85.6 per cent water, 1 per cent pro- 
tein, 0.6 per cent fat, 11.4 per cent sugar, starch, etc., 1 per cent 
crude fiber, and 1.4 per cent ash, and has a fuel value of 240 calories 
per pound. Of the total fat or ether extract, about half consists of 
the ethereal oil which, together with a pungent, nonvolatile con- 
stituent called gingerol, gives to ginger its characteristic flavor. The 
young and tender ends of the branching root, or rhizome, called 
ginger buds, are the most delicate portion as regards both texture 
and flavor. 
Calamus, or flagroot, is found wild in Europe, as well as in the 
United States, and has long been known for its pungent and aromatic 
flavor. The root is most often gathered, though the young blossom 
portion is also eaten and has a specially mild flavor. Flagroot was 
used for a seasoning in earlier times in England and in the United 
States also, where it is still used to a lmited extent like candied 
citron to flavor stewed fruit and so on, though its use at the present 
time is very largely limited to the candied flagroot which house- 
keepers often make at home and which is also a commercial product. 
1U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers’ Bul. 391 (1910), p. 27. [Recipe for making horse-radish 
sauce. ] 
2U. S. Dept. Agr., Yearbook 1912, pp. 505-552. Raisins, Figs, and Other Dried Fruits 
and Their Use. 
