76 
In  the  Land  of  Ginge?'. 
J  A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    February,  1898. 
"  fire  and  poison  "  from  very  hot  ginger.  I  placed  some  pieces  in  a 
stream  of  running  water  for  twelve  hours,  and  succeeded  in  making 
them  several  shades  lighter  in  color.  This  sample  proved  to  be  less 
pungent  to  the  taste,  and  it  is  quite  possible  the  force  of  the  water 
carried  away  some  portion  of  the  aromatic  principles. 
A  few  planters  use  lime  juice  in  the  wash  water.  This  gives  a 
whiter  root,  having  some  solvent  action  on  the  coloring  matter,  but, 
as  the  lime  juice  contains  saccharine  and  pectose  matter,  it  prevents 
drying,  and  mildew  follows.  In  another  experiment  I  supplied  the 
natives  with  citric  acid,  vinegar  and  acetic  acid.  They  all  worked 
fairly  well,  citric  acid  being  the  best  whitening  agent,  but  it  was 
reported  that  the  process  was  expensive  and  troublesome. 
It  is  generally  stated  that  ginger  is  deprived  of  its  coat  by  being 
Barbecue  used  in  Drying  Ginger, 
plunged  into  boiling  water  before  being  scraped.  This  practice  is 
not  used  to  any  extent  in  Jamaica.  Its  effect  is  to  swell  the  starch 
and  bassorin-like  gums.  I  found  that  after  keeping  the  freshly- 
peeled  root-stalks  in  boiling  water  for  an  hour  they  were  consider- 
ably swollen  and  the  steam  was  filled  with  the  aroma  of  the  ginger- 
Under  this  treatment  the  coating  comes  off  easily;  but,  if  the  action 
of  the  boiling  water  is  prolonged,  the  starch  and  fibre  are  acted  upon, 
the  product  dries  hard  and  the  color  is  darkened.  In  fact,  what  is 
known  as  "  black  ginger  "  of  the  market  is  the  result  of  this  process. 
Ginger  is  found  in  the  market  coated  with  calcerous  matter,  such  as 
carbonate  of  lime,  etc.,  this  is  said  to  be  to  fill  a  demand  for  "  white 
ginger."  Such  a  proceeding  is  apparently  unknown  among  the 
planters.  Well-cured  ginger  has  a  decided  white  coating  and  that 
is  all  they  know  about  it. 
