ISHS Acta Horticulturae 756: International Symposium on Medicinal and Nutraceutical Plants
CHEMISTRY AND QUALITY OF FRESH GINGER VARIETIES (ZINGIBER OFFICINALE) FROM GHANA |
| Authors: | H.R. Juliani, A.R. Koroch , J.E. Simon, J. Asante-Dartey, D. Acquaye |
| Keywords: | essential oils, zingiberene, neral, geranial, zerumbone, 6-gingerol |
| Abstract:
Ginger, Zingiber officinale, one of the most important and oldest of spices, consists of rhizomes with a warm pungent taste and a pleasant odor. The essential oils are responsible for the aroma while the non-volatile components are responsible for the pungency with gingerol the most pungent component in fresh ginger. Ghana has a long history of producing ginger rhizomes for local markets. In this study, we evaluated the quality and essential oils and pungent principles of two different types of Ghanaian ginger, each from three regions, compared to ginger rhizomes found in the US Market. The essential oils composition of variety 2 exhibited the typical ginger oil composition with geranial, neral and zingiberene as the main components. Variety 1 exhibited a distinctly different essential oils composition dominated by zerumbone (85–87%). Variety 2 possessed a warm pungent taste similar to the commercial samples whereas variety 1 of gingers possessed a bitter taste. Variety 2 and the US commercial gingers contain 6-gingerol as the main component. The samples from Oframanse exhibited the highest amount of total gingerols (0.66%) (6-, 8-, and 10 gingerols), being almost 4 times higher than the commercial US ginger (0.17). Ginger variety 2 appears promising for the export market since these gingers could be offered both as a dried and/or ground spice as well as a source of gingerols for the nutraceutical industry. | |
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