[Sca-cooks] Ginger

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

First, i have been assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that throughout
most of SCA period, the ginger available in Europe would have been
dried. If, in fact, there is evidence of fresh ginger, please correct
me.

Second, i've noticed in various "period" works, that there are what
seem to be different kinds of ginger specified: "white ginger" or
"the whitest ginger you can find" and "Mecca ginger"... i think i've
seen some other descriptors...

Anyone know what the differences are? Are they referring to different
grades of ginger or another zingiberacea rhizome?

Zingiberacea family rhizomes which either were or could have been
imported dried in "medieval times"...

* Ginger - Zingiber officinale
* Galangal - Alpinia galanga - aka greater galangal and galingale,
called laos in Indonesian, lengkuas in Malay, and kha in Thai
* Turmeric - Curcuma longa or Curcuma domestica - kunyit in Indonesian

Then there are some other zingiberacea rhizomes i ate in Indonesia:

1.) kentjur/kencur - Kaempferia galanga - Lesser galangal - according
to Gernot Katzer's site, it is rarely used outside Indonesia.

2.) kuntji/kunci or temu kunci (the "c" is a "ch" in Bahasa
Indonesia), apparently also known as "fingerroot" - Kaempferia
pandurata. Apparently this is used in China, Singapore, Thailand,
Malaysia and Indonesia

And last there is:
Zedoary - Curcuma zedoaria - Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/
say it is so bitter it is rarely used in foods, and more often occurs
in medicinals.
But some sources say Lesser Galangal/kentjur is Zedoary/Curcuma
zedoaria. I don't think so...

Then there's the rhizome called kra chai in Thai - i get mixed
answers as to whether it is kentjur or kuntji. Katzer says it is temu
kunci.

Anyway - to synopsize:
1) fresh or dried ginger?
2) various grades or types of ginger?
3) other zingiberacea rhizomes besides ginger and galangal?
4) OT: is kra chai really kentjur or temu kuntji? (not very impt.)

Thanks,
Anahita