Your cat looks like a twin of my own cat. When we got him as a kitten, one of the names I suggested for him was "ginger" It was rejected by the rest of the family because he wasn't ginger. Although the cat we had before him was totally black, and of course I named him "spot"
Make a series of videos about fruits from all 28 states and 8 union territories of India you will get tons of subscribers, Indians love watching foreigners reacting to anything Indian also put (Indian fruit blank in the subtitle)
In Indonesia we mainly use 4 gingers for cooking: ginger, turmeric, galangal, and sand ginger (kencur). You should try sand ginger, its my favorite, but u should try it in dishes or at least in a sambal (chili dip).
Aloha WeirdExplorer, I'm a botanist on the island of Oahu. I recognized your mystery ginger (19:36). It's grown in Hawaii as an ornamental plant. We call it shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet). That particular plant was variegated so it came from horticultural stock and was probably planted as an ornamental because of the beautiful striped leaves. On a side note, the one you ID as soap ginger (24:43) is actually a close relative called beehive ginger (Zingiber spectabile). Beehive ginger is a common landscaping plant out here. It often gets mistaken for soap ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) which is also known as awapuhi in Hawaiian. Love your channel! Long time fan. Mahalo, Shawn
@thespeedofplant5427 AHA! I recognize AWAPUHI as an ingredient in high-end "fancy" shampoo my girlfriend uses! It is nice to find out information like this. Thank you. Peaceful Skies.
Sucks to be a plant. Plant: "Hey, I'll make this really irritating burning chemical so that insects and animals won't eat me!" Humans: "Mmm, tasty! Make more!"
When I studied herpetology in Florida, we had so much soap ginger growing all over campus. It really came in handy out in the field, especially because my study was on Cuban Treefrogs. After hours of catching and numbering specimens, their mucus would coat our hands, and was very irritating if you accidentally rubbed your eyes. The Soap Ginger removed the irritating mucus when plain water struggled (we didn’t ever carry soap, it would have been just one more thing to lug around with all of our equipment), so it became an excellent friend to us.
That’s so interesting. It’s soap ginger because you can use it as soap. I wonder what the chemical reaction was, like which ester in the ginger is interacting with the mucus.
@@ferretyluv I’m no botanist, but my guess is that it’s more of a physical reaction than chemical, in that whatever compounds are in the water act as a surfactant just like soap. Soap also lifted and removed the mucus, but we had to wait until we got back to the lab, and it was really difficult to remember not to rub your eyes for hours on end! 😆
Once upon a time when I was in school for Chinese medicine, I noticed that the Chinese name for medicinal galagal basically translates to “big power ginger”. I called it high octane ginger for years. :) you have absolutely validated my studies and sense of humor today!
@@SamTahbou ….seriously? 👀 Well, I’ve been a professional acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist for nearly 20 years, so I certainly think so. Beyond that, I’d suggest doing some Google searches or even checking pubmed to see the thousands of studies on the topic.
@@Somedude20282 also, "it's complicated!" I remember reading about a study that tested an herbal remedy for malaria. The modern method of preparing the remedy destroyed the compound that would treat malaria (I think it got too hot maybe?) but they were able to find or re-develop a method that worked.
I'm a chef and I really appreciate these videos where you're just experimenting and trying new things. You give me a lot of inspiration for new creations! I had no idea ginger was such a versatile plant, and I will likely try out dried torch ginger to see if I could use it in my recipes.
Long time watcher, but I’ve never commented. I just wanted to say your videos bring so much joy to my life. Ive watched your videos through addiction, homelessness, recovery, and now intense nerve pain in my mouth 😭 still managing to brighten my day. You’re interesting, informative, and true to yourself, not many are like that. Thank you for being you and doing all of this.
Thanks very much. I'm a retired North American botanist living in the New World Tropics. I have about 8 different gingers in my garden. This is the ONLY place I've seen that provides so much interesting info on gingers. I'd like for you to do a podcast about the fruit from Monstera deliciosa that also grows WILD here. Ravenala madagascariensis and Strelitzia also grow in my garden. All these plants are in the Ginger order, along with Bananas, Canna, Costa & Heliconia I am in a botanical paradise! Thanks again!
this channel is becoming such an in depth pool of knowledge. I love how all the old videos are referenced and that you go back and make corrections or new insights on what you previously mentioned.
I added ginger, galangal, turmeric, finger root, black pepper and plai, also in the ginger family with anti-inflammation properties, with enough vodka to cover it. I let it sit for 8 weeks and then mixed it with soda water, a squirt of lime, and a bit of honey. It tastes fantastic, warming like ginger but with a deeper, earthy taste. Hopefully, I will have this healthy anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory concoction once a week. I live in Thailand, so I can get it all fresh.
Tysm for making these videos weird explorer. A lotta us environmental science majors love your stuff. It was kinda nuts finding out how many people I know personally who watch your stuff, especially when you were a kinda smaller channel back then. You're actually extremely popular with us! And it's so cool to see you've grown so much since then. I was actually inspired to change majors (from bio to eco) from your videos years ago. A lot of us absolutely LOVE finding out about different types of fruits (and nuts etc).
Just a quick, interesting technique for getting ginger juice. You can put ginger in the freezer for a week+. When you thaw it afterwards, the ginger can be squeezed with your fingers to get the juice out. Freezing it allows the ice to break down cell walls and turns it from a hard root, into more of a sponge type texture. We put ginger in our morning drinks everyday and having easier to squeeze ginger is a life/time saver.
Another commonly used ginger rhyzome is sand ginger. I see it called for dried in Chinese recipes all the time, and Wikipedia says it's used a lot in Indonesia.
It *is* used a lot in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java and Bali, for salads, stews, soups, snacks etc. In Malaysia it is most used in the cuisine of the Penang Nyonyas (specifically Penang).
In Malaysia, we call it "cekur" (not to be confused with "cekur manis", which is a different plant) and mainly use the leaves rather than the rhizome (except, of course, in the aforementioned Nyonya cuisine).
@@munirahbakar4123specifically PENANG Nyonya cuisine. the emphasis is important. the Nyonya cuisines of Melaka, Terengganu and Kelantan do not use the rhizomes. the only non-Penang-Nyonya Malaysian dishes that I know of that use the rhizomes are getik (Malaysian Javanese sand ginger coconut stew, usually catfish for protein) and lontong Banjar from Tenglu, Mersing (not lontong Banjar from actual Banjarmasin, which is different).
Your new super long documentary format is *awesome*! Nobody would ever take this much time to talk about ginger outside of "boring" botanical publications. If you look up something about ginger you will only find scummy stock footage garbage selling ginger as miracle food (and of course diet wonder drug). Thanks so much!
The pepper/beef one is almost certainly Alpinia zerumbet. The soap ginger you show is definitely Zingiber spectabile - not Zingiber zerumbet (not to be confused with the quite different Alpinia zerumbet, gingers can get very confusing). I recommend gbif for helping to identify plants by location. The mango tasting root is probably Curcuma amada, the mango ginger which is in the same genus as turmeric. The leaves look right for that. The essential oil of the rhizome is very pleasant but loses its smell very rapidly on storage. Krachai (finger root) and kentjoer are less common in Europe but a good Thai or Indonesian shop should have them along with galangal. Certainly British ones have them. That is a really old and woody sample of galangal you had, most we get here is pale, slender, tender and pink. The loss of the first r in turmeric seems to be quite a recent phenomenon, mostly in shops.
@@totot99 I got my first fresh sample of kentjoer root from a shop in Amsterdam 25 years ago. So I think of it by the Dutch name. Brought it back and grew it. Beautiful flower, like so many gingers. I have grown quite a few species of ginger over the years.
Yes, you're right. It's used as an ornamental plant -- variegated ginger -- in gardens in Florida & other tropical areas. I had no idea it was edible. Apparently it's commonly called "Shell Ginger" -- _alpinia zerumbet variegata_ There's a video called "cooking with Shell Ginger" that's interesting.
Vostok, the Securikitty. Loved how she was making biscuits with her little paw. Ginger has become one of my best friends since I suffer from vertigo. No one knows why it works, but it helps me feel better every time it attacks.
Oh? I'm a BPPV sufferer myself. Please, tell me more. Getting a shower day before yesterday l turned around and flipped my head upside down too many times and I had to recline on my bed for 20 minutes before I could move around safely and without feeling extremely nauseous. (I'm always a fan of air biscuits) 😂
@@Just1Nora Ginger tea (just place the ginger in hot water and let it steep for 3 to 5 minutes) has been REALLY effective for my nausea. It also prevented me from getting motion sickness while traveling by car or bus.
Do you have Menier's disease? I have that. I can go long periods with no episodes, then get them in clusters. I get a high pitched ringing in my ears, then the world seems to tilt and spin. Mine don't last very long, maybe a couple of minutes, but that's enough to put me on the floor, puking. At that point I'm not in any condition to make tea. I can't do anything but lie there for awhile. I've started taking meclizine daily, as a motion sickness preventative. I've had a couple of episodes since I started taking it, and it stops the horrible nausea. I still feel shaky and wrung out afterwards, but it stops the lying on the floor puking part.
I love ginger, all parts. I'm glad to see someone make a video of hard to find exotic species. Prolly one of my favorite vids from this channel. Thank you!
We found the varigated ginger at a local nursury, they said it was for decoration only, good to know that it is very likely edible like any other ginger. Next time I see it I am going to buy it because it is beautiful too. I love that you guys are sweating you behinds off to get the goods to show us, I appreciate your efforts.
Do be careful, not all parts of all gingers are fully recognized as edible. I know that at least Myoga, which is a very popular ornamental one which has some variegated forms, only is known for its edible flowers, so don't eat the rhizomes.
@@StuffandThings_ that may have been what it was. It would be great if more plant stores and nurseries told you the name of the plant rather than just telling you it is ornamental ginger or "tropical foliage".
I'm growing 3 different types of ginger in Mesa, Arizona. One is the Shampoo Ginger. I like growing all different kinds of plants the most people tell me won't grow in the deserts in Arizona. I have around 400 trees growing at my house.
I live in Hawaii and grow a few varieties of edible gingers. I was not aware that so many other varieties fruits were also used in cooking. The soap ginger you showed we have hear but it's not the " shampoo" ginger that I was aware of. The " shampoo ginger flower is similarly shaped but has delicate blossoms in purple/White or all white. There is a sap in the blossom that is somewhat jelly like and used as a shampoo and body wash. I have used it and it really does work. It is better than any bottled shampoo. I do have the white variety growing on the farm I live on.
One of the primary uses of torch ginger stems is in flavoring soups and stews. In Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine, the stems are often added to dishes like laksa and asam pedas, imparting a distinctive aroma and depth of flavor. By cutting the stems into smaller pieces, they can be simmered in broths and stews, providing a subtle yet complex taste.
I love "my" ginger. It comes from Peru and produces shoots before I have a chance to prepare a tea. Then I put it in soil, it grows massive and happily and two year later I harvest a bit less than I initially planted. So much fun! 😂
I've been watching your channel for a few years now, and I just want you to know how much I love your videos! You describe the experience of each fruit in a way that just can't be replicated. I wish you and yours the best in everything, and thanks for everything you do!
You missed one that is sold in some of our Indian shops in the UK. It's Zedoary but they call it 'Amba', and it is a white alternative to turmeric so that you don't have to stain all your dishesand microwave plastic. It has nice leaves and I grow it as a houseplant, though I've not got it to flower yet, and these look quite beautiful in pictures. The leaves do die back as each rhizome is used up but shoots soon come out from the new rhizomes if you haven't eaten them. As for turmeric powder ('haldi'), I find it much more bitter than the fresh, orange, root, and very rarely use it since supermarkets started stocking the fresh rhizomes. Chinese warehouses, have fresh galangal, which is infinitely better than the almost tasteless but expensive jars of minced stuff. Indian shops have bags of dried slices of galanga, but they are pieces of wood that are probably best broken up and steeped in boiling water that you then strain to use. There is a 'wild' flower in the pea family, called 'galingale' or 'Goat's Rue' in the UK. Some say it's a pest, but it's an attractive one. I don't know why the name is so similar to galanga, but, in a country where all the shops sell Nigella seed as 'onion seed', anything is possible! :)
I have a plant of galangal, turmeric, and a few others. They all grow really well down here in Florida. One of the gingers that you didn't mention is the red button ginger (Costus woodsonii) which produces a red cone/bracts which elongate with age and produces orange to yellow firm flowers which are edible. They taste citrus-like and we tend to put them in salads for a citrusy crunch. The fruit is white with black seeds and kind of fibrous, never thought of trying to eat them though, I do know that the leaves are edible too, but haven't tried the leaves yet either. Maybe I'll try some today lol Never tried eating my torch ginger, I have the dark red variety. Next spring when it blooms, I'm going to have to try it.
Alpinia caerulea(Australian Blue Ginger) is a controversial one in terms of the edibility of the seeds, some people say the seeds will make you sick, some say they are deadly if you eat enough and some people say that drying the fruit whole and grinding it up along with the seeds to make a herbal tea is a traditional use and perfectly safe.
"Grains of paradise" was a very popular medieval spice. Galangal that you showed at the start is actually the plant that produces it. I find it to be very floral, and slightly peppery.
Ginger with a mango-like flavor? 🥭🌶 Mind blown! Loved the comparison between turmeric, galangal, and finger root. Definitely hitting the Asian market for more of these!
This is awesome! All the research and effort put into your videos has made them a staple of mine for YEARS!!! I really hope we get more of these longer videos in the future.
Fabulous episode! One of your best yet !! I was in Marseille last weekend & though ot you with all the exotic spices for sale. I bought black cardamom & grains of paradise amongst other things. I grow Zingiber mioga also. A real fun family of tastes !
I used to do landscaping on Big Island, Hawaii. People would put this in their yards necessitating me and my boss taking multiples of loads of the cut stuff to the greenwaste in a single day. I can still smell it years later. It penetrates your senses like nothing else. I still chew some on a regular basis to combat intestinal parasites and other ailments.
Yeah, I'm gonna say that anyone claiming that you can eat any part from any member of the Zingiberaceae family is nuts. It's a huge family and bound to have some members that have developed chemical defenses that are potent against mammals too. Keep in mind that most of what we humans enjoy as spices are chemical compounds that plants evolved to be toxic to something. So be careful when trying things that aren't commonly consumed in their native range. Human's have had a tendency to get very adventurous with trying to eat everything that grows around us. So if a culture hasn't embraced something as a food/spice that was common in their environment, odds are it's because it's either not good for you or not pleasant. I have torch ginger in my garden and might have to give it a try.
Just want to say thank you. You've opened my eyes to some awesome stuff!! been seeking out and learning to grow a number of things you've covered! keep up the great work!
That mystery ginger is called Topah or Petiti i think. It grows underground. Its often sold already peeled from the outer skin, because theyre covered in dirt . Its a seasonal fruit in borneo
19:52 That looks like _Alpinia zerumbet_ .We have that here in Taiwan (Mandarin name 月桃 yuetao). The seeds were used as a spice in the old days and the leaves can be used to wrap zongzi (rice ball, more commonly using bamboo leaves).
When making the dough for Jamaican patties or any dough requiring a rich golden color, fresh turmeric is the best. Just sliced it thin, dehydrated then ground to a powder. Gave a very unique color and amazing flavor, the store bought powdered stuff doesn't compare.
Discovered your channel recently. Love your videos -- it's like streaming an unknown archive or log I never knew I needed! I never knew tumeric was a member of the ginger family but they do look similar (although looks can be deceiving)!
Just realized I started and ended two sentences with "I never knew". Your cat needs to make more cameos in videos by the way. I can recognize their talent.
haven't watched the whole video yet but Canna indica (aka canna lily) is edible! a little bland and stringy but very starchy but you can make a flour out of it like tapioca or American arrow root! the seeds are sort of spicy dried and ground as well.
This is great! A foodie/reaction type presentation several levels above what I've watched before! Love your sense of humor and simple but informative botany. Liked and Subscribed!
I had to look it up to be sure, but the one rhizome type tuber I love to eat is the Sunchoke. Which is in the same family as a sunflower. It's really crunchy raw with a mild flavor, but when you cook it the flavor changes and it smells and tastes like artichokes! It can make you gassy though so eat them in moderation at first.
I really appreciate your videos. I especially like the way you describe flavors in such detail, and include information about where everything comes from, and it's various uses. My inner amateur botanist is awakened by many of your videos. Now I've added several ginger species to my future greenhouse bucket list.
I'm fortunate enough to be in an area of Australia where the other blue ginger you mentioned is native to (Brisbane area), and there's a native plants nursery/conservation group that sells the plants and others as seedlings. I have two in pots and am trying to figure out how to get them to thrive now.
I knew exactly how you would react to the galangal, I did the same thing. I sliced my up very thin then dehydrated it and turned it into a powder for nasi goreng. I also like to put it in my rice cooker to give my rice a nice little kick of flavor sometimes.
Thanks for the great tour! I grow ginger here in my grow lab and outdoors... I have been refining my growing practices and have it down pretty good now. cheers! 🌱
The one you tried in new Caledonia is used videly in eastern India(especially bengal) known as 'aam ada' literally 'mango ginger'. It's very popular in street food scene.
Love the content for years now, this one a bit special!! The Masusa in 'Sranan' (Surinamese mix language) or Masoesa ('oe' is dutch like the 'u' in spanish) from Suriname is pronounced similar to Yakuza..Masusa. This also goes for the 'a' at the end. We have a lot of gingers even grown and wild in Suriname.
Thanks! I was wondering if those two are the same because I've only ever heard about Temu Pauh. I know that fingerroot are called Temu Kunci in Malaysia.
24:50 the sap from shampoo ginger is used as shampoo/soap. Either by blending up the cones or "milking" by gently squeazing the sap out of them. "Milking", if done correctly, allows the cone to refill with more liquid. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using it like a loofah lol
Thank you for the video. I grew common ginger for the first time last year. Super easy. Barely and inconvenience. I got a pretty good yield but I will note that most of my rhizomes were smallish. It was kind of a pain to clean as it had so many crenulations. I do not know how the ones I find at the asian market are SO BIG but the home grown had great flavor. I froze most of it, used a lot fresh and dried the remainder. With the exception that smaller pieces (finger size) intertwine and so trap a lot of dirt everything but the cleaning is pretty much effortless. I am trying a bit different technique this year to minimize cleaning by changing the substrate. SInce it grows laterally pretty much anyone could grow it even in shallow pots so I encourage giving it a try.
A bit info on the 'torch ginger flower,' it's actually the flower of the 'galangal' ginger. It usually has two flower, male which is the one used where it grow from the roots/ground, and the female that produce the fruit -(not sure the edibility)- where it is formed at the end of the stems of the plant.
My family in Thailand has made salads with galangal and white turmeric in the same vein as papaya salad, I only had it once but it was 15 years ago and I still think about it today. It was incredible. Fresh turmeric has a very earthy peppery taste that's really fantastic in both savory and sweet applications imo. There's a white turmeric they use in Thailand that's more mild, they sometimes have it with relishes. Galangal is powerful, so if you dilute it, it's much nicer, just a slice infused with hot water is nice. Galangal is key to most Thai soups as well, like Tom Yum and Tom Kha (which is named for galangal). I think it's worth even using ginger in sweet settings, I add it to my Apple pies and it's always a hit.
I collect gingers for my shade garden. It’s just a nice plant to have around. Haven’t taste tested a lot of them. Keeping them alive is my current goal. Butterfly ginger grows the easiest and spreads the fastest. Tolerates direct sun but thrives in shade like most or all ginger
I enjoy the various ethnic/regional cuisines and all the varieties of dishes that come with local fruits/veg. I look at supermarkets as 'survivors' of a bad 'filter system' where only 1 in 10,000 of a given variety of cultivars make it to mass-cultivation. NOT because they're the best tasting, usually because of size/aesthetics. People like you, the dude that has saved 1000s of apple cultivars, etc are helping to shed light on what many in less developed countries know as 'their food' but you'll never see in a supermarket. Good work
More ginger episodes:
Black Cardamom: th-cam.com/video/IyfVE_j0wYo/w-d-xo.html
Myoga ginger: th-cam.com/video/S26ibPNa56g/w-d-xo.html
Madagascar Wild Ginger: th-cam.com/video/X_Q0riMQfv8/w-d-xo.html
Mystery ginger from Borneo: th-cam.com/video/KOXJ8hIAXmw/w-d-xo.html
Torch Ginger: th-cam.com/video/YFepoZOJ3Oc/w-d-xo.html
Have you done the science on why turmeric needs black pepper to be "activated"?
Your cat looks like a twin of my own cat. When we got him as a kitten, one of the names I suggested for him was "ginger" It was rejected by the rest of the family because he wasn't ginger. Although the cat we had before him was totally black, and of course I named him "spot"
Make a series of videos about fruits from all 28 states and 8 union territories of India you will get tons of subscribers, Indians love watching foreigners reacting to anything Indian also put (Indian fruit blank in the subtitle)
For the galangal, i used to make an infusion out of it ( when i have some ) and it’s milder
In Indonesia we mainly use 4 gingers for cooking: ginger, turmeric, galangal, and sand ginger (kencur). You should try sand ginger, its my favorite, but u should try it in dishes or at least in a sambal (chili dip).
"wuh ackh ugh" is my favorite flavor
I think he needs to say galangal a few more times! Lol
Gotta put some wuh ackh ugh on that thing.
(This will definitely not be outdated in two days)
19:14 "Unhihn, hein hein hein" is a key component to the flavor profile of Grains of Paradise, it seems...
Hawk Tuah
hawk tuah
Aloha WeirdExplorer,
I'm a botanist on the island of Oahu. I recognized your mystery ginger (19:36). It's grown in Hawaii as an ornamental plant. We call it shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet). That particular plant was variegated so it came from horticultural stock and was probably planted as an ornamental because of the beautiful striped leaves.
On a side note, the one you ID as soap ginger (24:43) is actually a close relative called beehive ginger (Zingiber spectabile). Beehive ginger is a common landscaping plant out here. It often gets mistaken for soap ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) which is also known as awapuhi in Hawaiian.
Love your channel! Long time fan.
Mahalo,
Shawn
How to differentiate them? The seller just label it "shampoo ginger". It haven't flowered yet so far.
@thespeedofplant5427 AHA! I recognize AWAPUHI as an ingredient in high-end "fancy" shampoo my girlfriend uses! It is nice to find out information like this. Thank you.
Peaceful Skies.
Oh man the plants of hawaii are sooooo cool! It would be wonderful to explore more hawaiian plants!
One of the most excellent botanical gardens I've visited was there in Wahiawa. Thanks for the clarifications offered in such a respectful way.
Alpina zerumbet is used dried as a spice for Chinese hotpot.
Vostok’s “I love you” eyes tells me that her safety message was shared with love and biscuits. Thank you safety kitty. 💜
It constantly amazes me how so many strategies used by plants to repel insects produce flavours and sensations that are loved by humans.
Sucks to be a plant.
Plant: "Hey, I'll make this really irritating burning chemical so that insects and animals won't eat me!"
Humans: "Mmm, tasty! Make more!"
When I studied herpetology in Florida, we had so much soap ginger growing all over campus. It really came in handy out in the field, especially because my study was on Cuban Treefrogs. After hours of catching and numbering specimens, their mucus would coat our hands, and was very irritating if you accidentally rubbed your eyes. The Soap Ginger removed the irritating mucus when plain water struggled (we didn’t ever carry soap, it would have been just one more thing to lug around with all of our equipment), so it became an excellent friend to us.
That’s so interesting. It’s soap ginger because you can use it as soap. I wonder what the chemical reaction was, like which ester in the ginger is interacting with the mucus.
@@ferretyluv I’m no botanist, but my guess is that it’s more of a physical reaction than chemical, in that whatever compounds are in the water act as a surfactant just like soap. Soap also lifted and removed the mucus, but we had to wait until we got back to the lab, and it was really difficult to remember not to rub your eyes for hours on end! 😆
@@MermaidMakes thats cool. How did you know the benefits of soap ginger for removing it?
Did I just watch a 25min video about ginger and enjoy it? Yes. Yes I did
Once upon a time when I was in school for Chinese medicine, I noticed that the Chinese name for medicinal galagal basically translates to “big power ginger”. I called it high octane ginger for years. :) you have absolutely validated my studies and sense of humor today!
oh yeah galangal is big powered ginger indeed XD got some at my local viet store once and WOW 10x stronger than ginger
Does Chinese medicine do anything?
@@SamTahbou ….seriously? 👀 Well, I’ve been a professional acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist for nearly 20 years, so I certainly think so. Beyond that, I’d suggest doing some Google searches or even checking pubmed to see the thousands of studies on the topic.
@@SamTahbouIt's a mix! Some yes some no- plenty of medicinal herbs have proven oils and compounds that can help with various illnesses
@@Somedude20282 also, "it's complicated!" I remember reading about a study that tested an herbal remedy for malaria. The modern method of preparing the remedy destroyed the compound that would treat malaria (I think it got too hot maybe?) but they were able to find or re-develop a method that worked.
I'm a chef and I really appreciate these videos where you're just experimenting and trying new things. You give me a lot of inspiration for new creations! I had no idea ginger was such a versatile plant, and I will likely try out dried torch ginger to see if I could use it in my recipes.
I'm so glad!
Now the problem is that you’re going to have to charge a lot because these are hard to get ahold of.
Long time watcher, but I’ve never commented. I just wanted to say your videos bring so much joy to my life. Ive watched your videos through addiction, homelessness, recovery, and now intense nerve pain in my mouth 😭 still managing to brighten my day. You’re interesting, informative, and true to yourself, not many are like that. Thank you for being you and doing all of this.
Thanks so much. I hope the nerve pain gets better soon 😕
@@WeirdExplorer this too shall pass 😌
I can partly relate. Have been watching the channel for almost a decade of my 20s, so much has changed
More disclaimers from you cat please
She's looking out for us
I like what's she doing with her paw very much
@@WeirdExplorer Give her a cutesy voice to disclaim stuff to us.
@@KonarcoffeeThat’s the warning, be safe or you get the spikey paw!
Disclaimer : you cant eat a ginger cat😾
Thanks very much. I'm a retired North American botanist living in the New World Tropics. I have about 8 different gingers in my garden. This is the ONLY place I've seen that provides so much interesting info on gingers. I'd like for you to do a podcast about the fruit from Monstera deliciosa that also grows WILD here. Ravenala madagascariensis and Strelitzia also grow in my garden. All these plants are in the Ginger order, along with Bananas, Canna, Costa & Heliconia I am in a botanical paradise! Thanks again!
this channel is becoming such an in depth pool of knowledge. I love how all the old videos are referenced and that you go back and make corrections or new insights on what you previously mentioned.
I added ginger, galangal, turmeric, finger root, black pepper and plai, also in the ginger family with anti-inflammation properties, with enough vodka to cover it. I let it sit for 8 weeks and then mixed it with soda water, a squirt of lime, and a bit of honey. It tastes fantastic, warming like ginger but with a deeper, earthy taste. Hopefully, I will have this healthy anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory concoction once a week. I live in Thailand, so I can get it all fresh.
Tysm for making these videos weird explorer. A lotta us environmental science majors love your stuff. It was kinda nuts finding out how many people I know personally who watch your stuff, especially when you were a kinda smaller channel back then. You're actually extremely popular with us! And it's so cool to see you've grown so much since then. I was actually inspired to change majors (from bio to eco) from your videos years ago. A lot of us absolutely LOVE finding out about different types of fruits (and nuts etc).
My 'tism made reading this very funny the first time around.😂
@@UsenameTakenWasTaken no yeah I got the tism too and it makes writing things kinda weird >.
Just a quick, interesting technique for getting ginger juice. You can put ginger in the freezer for a week+. When you thaw it afterwards, the ginger can be squeezed with your fingers to get the juice out. Freezing it allows the ice to break down cell walls and turns it from a hard root, into more of a sponge type texture. We put ginger in our morning drinks everyday and having easier to squeeze ginger is a life/time saver.
Omg thanks for sharing
Vostok is so beautiful, her eyes are mesmerizing.
Another commonly used ginger rhyzome is sand ginger. I see it called for dried in Chinese recipes all the time, and Wikipedia says it's used a lot in Indonesia.
It *is* used a lot in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java and Bali, for salads, stews, soups, snacks etc. In Malaysia it is most used in the cuisine of the Penang Nyonyas (specifically Penang).
In Malaysia, we call it "cekur" (not to be confused with "cekur manis", which is a different plant) and mainly use the leaves rather than the rhizome (except, of course, in the aforementioned Nyonya cuisine).
@@munirahbakar4123specifically PENANG Nyonya cuisine. the emphasis is important. the Nyonya cuisines of Melaka, Terengganu and Kelantan do not use the rhizomes. the only non-Penang-Nyonya Malaysian dishes that I know of that use the rhizomes are getik (Malaysian Javanese sand ginger coconut stew, usually catfish for protein) and lontong Banjar from Tenglu, Mersing (not lontong Banjar from actual Banjarmasin, which is different).
i love kencur in sambal!! also it is widely used to make Seblak here in West Java
Beras kencur my beloved (it's a rice drink with that rhyzome in it)
Your new super long documentary format is *awesome*! Nobody would ever take this much time to talk about ginger outside of "boring" botanical publications. If you look up something about ginger you will only find scummy stock footage garbage selling ginger as miracle food (and of course diet wonder drug). Thanks so much!
The pepper/beef one is almost certainly Alpinia zerumbet.
The soap ginger you show is definitely Zingiber spectabile - not Zingiber zerumbet (not to be confused with the quite different Alpinia zerumbet, gingers can get very confusing). I recommend gbif for helping to identify plants by location.
The mango tasting root is probably Curcuma amada, the mango ginger which is in the same genus as turmeric. The leaves look right for that. The essential oil of the rhizome is very pleasant but loses its smell very rapidly on storage.
Krachai (finger root) and kentjoer are less common in Europe but a good Thai or Indonesian shop should have them along with galangal. Certainly British ones have them.
That is a really old and woody sample of galangal you had, most we get here is pale, slender, tender and pink.
The loss of the first r in turmeric seems to be quite a recent phenomenon, mostly in shops.
Interesting that you spelled it as kentjoer and not kencur
@@totot99 I got my first fresh sample of kentjoer root from a shop in Amsterdam 25 years ago. So I think of it by the Dutch name. Brought it back and grew it. Beautiful flower, like so many gingers. I have grown quite a few species of ginger over the years.
Yes, you're right. It's used as an ornamental plant -- variegated ginger -- in gardens in Florida & other tropical areas. I had no idea it was edible.
Apparently it's commonly called "Shell Ginger" -- _alpinia zerumbet variegata_
There's a video called "cooking with Shell Ginger" that's interesting.
Yeah! I think the pronouncing of turmeric to “tumeric” has caused people to spell it that way as well.
@@bluesteno64 Yes, I much prefer not pronouncing it like tumour.
Vostok, the Securikitty. Loved how she was making biscuits with her little paw.
Ginger has become one of my best friends since I suffer from vertigo. No one knows why it works, but it helps me feel better every time it attacks.
Oh? I'm a BPPV sufferer myself. Please, tell me more. Getting a shower day before yesterday l turned around and flipped my head upside down too many times and I had to recline on my bed for 20 minutes before I could move around safely and without feeling extremely nauseous.
(I'm always a fan of air biscuits) 😂
@@Just1Nora Ginger tea (just place the ginger in hot water and let it steep for 3 to 5 minutes) has been REALLY effective for my nausea. It also prevented me from getting motion sickness while traveling by car or bus.
Get your ears checked.
@@lemonyskunkketts7781 Been going to doctors over this for a long time. And the tea does help the biggest problem, the nausea.
Do you have Menier's disease? I have that. I can go long periods with no episodes, then get them in clusters. I get a high pitched ringing in my ears, then the world seems to tilt and spin. Mine don't last very long, maybe a couple of minutes, but that's enough to put me on the floor, puking. At that point I'm not in any condition to make tea. I can't do anything but lie there for awhile.
I've started taking meclizine daily, as a motion sickness preventative. I've had a couple of episodes since I started taking it, and it stops the horrible nausea. I still feel shaky and wrung out afterwards, but it stops the lying on the floor puking part.
I love ginger, all parts. I'm glad to see someone make a video of hard to find exotic species. Prolly one of my favorite vids from this channel. Thank you!
Thanks!
This was a really fun episode, learned way more about ginger than I ever expected to!
We found the varigated ginger at a local nursury, they said it was for decoration only, good to know that it is very likely edible like any other ginger. Next time I see it I am going to buy it because it is beautiful too. I love that you guys are sweating you behinds off to get the goods to show us, I appreciate your efforts.
There are so many beautiful Ginger relatives. The blossoms just scream “tropics”!
Do be careful, not all parts of all gingers are fully recognized as edible. I know that at least Myoga, which is a very popular ornamental one which has some variegated forms, only is known for its edible flowers, so don't eat the rhizomes.
@@StuffandThings_ that may have been what it was. It would be great if more plant stores and nurseries told you the name of the plant rather than just telling you it is ornamental ginger or "tropical foliage".
I'm growing 3 different types of ginger in Mesa, Arizona. One is the Shampoo Ginger. I like growing all different kinds of plants the most people tell me won't grow in the deserts in Arizona. I have around 400 trees growing at my house.
I live in Hawaii and grow a few varieties of edible gingers. I was not aware that so many other varieties fruits were also used in cooking.
The soap ginger you showed we have hear but it's not the " shampoo" ginger that I was aware of. The " shampoo ginger flower is similarly shaped but has delicate blossoms in purple/White or all white. There is a sap in the blossom that is somewhat jelly like and used as a shampoo and body wash. I have used it and it really does work. It is better than any bottled shampoo. I do have the white variety growing on the farm I live on.
7 dollars in New York is a lot cheaper than 15 cents in Indonesia, if you count the cost of going to Indonesia.
Yes but it's even more expensive to go from Indonesia to NY and pay $7.
And now we understand the spice trade!
Can we count the cost of living in New York?
One of the primary uses of torch ginger stems is in flavoring soups and stews. In Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine, the stems are often added to dishes like laksa and asam pedas, imparting a distinctive aroma and depth of flavor. By cutting the stems into smaller pieces, they can be simmered in broths and stews, providing a subtle yet complex taste.
I love "my" ginger. It comes from Peru and produces shoots before I have a chance to prepare a tea. Then I put it in soil, it grows massive and happily and two year later I harvest a bit less than I initially planted. So much fun! 😂
I've been watching your channel for a few years now, and I just want you to know how much I love your videos! You describe the experience of each fruit in a way that just can't be replicated. I wish you and yours the best in everything, and thanks for everything you do!
Thank you so much!!
You missed one that is sold in some of our Indian shops in the UK. It's Zedoary but they call it 'Amba', and it is a white alternative to turmeric so that you don't have to stain all your dishesand microwave plastic. It has nice leaves and I grow it as a houseplant, though I've not got it to flower yet, and these look quite beautiful in pictures. The leaves do die back as each rhizome is used up but shoots soon come out from the new rhizomes if you haven't eaten them.
As for turmeric powder ('haldi'), I find it much more bitter than the fresh, orange, root, and very rarely use it since supermarkets started stocking the fresh rhizomes.
Chinese warehouses, have fresh galangal, which is infinitely better than the almost tasteless but expensive jars of minced stuff. Indian shops have bags of dried slices of galanga, but they are pieces of wood that are probably best broken up and steeped in boiling water that you then strain to use.
There is a 'wild' flower in the pea family, called 'galingale' or 'Goat's Rue' in the UK. Some say it's a pest, but it's an attractive one. I don't know why the name is so similar to galanga, but, in a country where all the shops sell Nigella seed as 'onion seed', anything is possible! :)
I much prefer fresh turmeric root for tea. So nice with milk and honey
Great video as usual ! All our best wishes from New Caledonia and hope to see you guys again anytime soon. Audrey & Vincent
You haven’t evacuated yet? The country’s in civil war!
I have a plant of galangal, turmeric, and a few others. They all grow really well down here in Florida. One of the gingers that you didn't mention is the red button ginger (Costus woodsonii) which produces a red cone/bracts which elongate with age and produces orange to yellow firm flowers which are edible. They taste citrus-like and we tend to put them in salads for a citrusy crunch. The fruit is white with black seeds and kind of fibrous, never thought of trying to eat them though, I do know that the leaves are edible too, but haven't tried the leaves yet either. Maybe I'll try some today lol
Never tried eating my torch ginger, I have the dark red variety. Next spring when it blooms, I'm going to have to try it.
You're right! I have an older video of me eating one of those flowers too.. Ah well, maybe for a sequel.
Is costus root edible? There don't seem to be much in the roots
cat on lap = instant like vote
KEvron
I love when cats do the single-paw knead.
Alpinia caerulea(Australian Blue Ginger) is a controversial one in terms of the edibility of the seeds, some people say the seeds will make you sick, some say they are deadly if you eat enough and some people say that drying the fruit whole and grinding it up along with the seeds to make a herbal tea is a traditional use and perfectly safe.
"Grains of paradise" was a very popular medieval spice. Galangal that you showed at the start is actually the plant that produces it. I find it to be very floral, and slightly peppery.
My daughter and I love to eat crystallized ginger. This was so interesting, thank you for covering one of my favorites!
Ginger with a mango-like flavor? 🥭🌶 Mind blown! Loved the comparison between turmeric, galangal, and finger root. Definitely hitting the Asian market for more of these!
That soap ginger is wild!
Thank you, handsome cat named Vostok, for the disclaimer about safety. I love how it just kneads in the air. Such a helpfull cutie!
This is awesome! All the research and effort put into your videos has made them a staple of mine for YEARS!!! I really hope we get more of these longer videos in the future.
That's the goal! Sunday's video will be kinda like this one
@@WeirdExplorer Thanks man! I’ll keep an eye out for it today
OMG that kitty is sassy and adorable 😍
Vostok is so utterly gorgeous! her eyes and the lil paw action was so cute! I wana give her a hug! Give me a hug for her!
You're one of my people!! Some people look at me like I have a second head when I say somethong smells like x tastes or tastes like x smells
I really like this format. So much information on one subject. Cool and surprising.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fabulous episode! One of your best yet !! I was in Marseille last weekend & though ot you with all the exotic spices for sale. I bought black cardamom & grains of paradise amongst other things. I grow Zingiber mioga also. A real fun family of tastes !
Facinating, I had no idea there were so many species of ginger let alone how much of the plant is edible!
I used to do landscaping on Big Island, Hawaii. People would put this in their yards necessitating me and my boss taking multiples of loads of the cut stuff to the greenwaste in a single day. I can still smell it years later. It penetrates your senses like nothing else. I still chew some on a regular basis to combat intestinal parasites and other ailments.
Love the kitty making invisible biscuits! 😻
I learned a ton about ginger thanks to you. Thank you so much for your research and explanation! The flowers, the seeds, the fruit....... amazing.
Yeah, I'm gonna say that anyone claiming that you can eat any part from any member of the Zingiberaceae family is nuts. It's a huge family and bound to have some members that have developed chemical defenses that are potent against mammals too. Keep in mind that most of what we humans enjoy as spices are chemical compounds that plants evolved to be toxic to something. So be careful when trying things that aren't commonly consumed in their native range. Human's have had a tendency to get very adventurous with trying to eat everything that grows around us. So if a culture hasn't embraced something as a food/spice that was common in their environment, odds are it's because it's either not good for you or not pleasant.
I have torch ginger in my garden and might have to give it a try.
there's also always the possibility of some novel allergic reaction... im guessing these guys had access to medical help if they needed it?
Just want to say thank you. You've opened my eyes to some awesome stuff!! been seeking out and learning to grow a number of things you've covered! keep up the great work!
I appreciate the work and time you have put into this video. Excellent and so, so interesting.
That mystery ginger is called Topah or Petiti i think. It grows underground. Its often sold already peeled from the outer skin, because theyre covered in dirt . Its a seasonal fruit in borneo
19:52 That looks like _Alpinia zerumbet_ .We have that here in Taiwan (Mandarin name 月桃 yuetao). The seeds were used as a spice in the old days and the leaves can be used to wrap zongzi (rice ball, more commonly using bamboo leaves).
When making the dough for Jamaican patties or any dough requiring a rich golden color, fresh turmeric is the best. Just sliced it thin, dehydrated then ground to a powder. Gave a very unique color and amazing flavor, the store bought powdered stuff doesn't compare.
Discovered your channel recently. Love your videos -- it's like streaming an unknown archive or log I never knew I needed!
I never knew tumeric was a member of the ginger family but they do look similar (although looks can be deceiving)!
Just realized I started and ended two sentences with "I never knew". Your cat needs to make more cameos in videos by the way. I can recognize their talent.
Gingers are pretty closely related to bananas and now I'm really seeing it with these flowers and fruits. Cool stuff!
I love how your cat was like I'm just gonna make one biscuit lol so cute!
haven't watched the whole video yet but Canna indica (aka canna lily) is edible! a little bland and stringy but very starchy but you can make a flour out of it like tapioca or American arrow root! the seeds are sort of spicy dried and ground as well.
SO *MUCH* I didn't know about Ginger!
I love your cat so much! I consider her to be the mascot of the channel.
according to her I'm the mascot and she's the star
@@WeirdExplorer. Of course! The only point of view a cat would take…
This is great! A foodie/reaction type presentation several levels above what I've watched before! Love your sense of humor and simple but informative botany. Liked and Subscribed!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I had to look it up to be sure, but the one rhizome type tuber I love to eat is the Sunchoke. Which is in the same family as a sunflower. It's really crunchy raw with a mild flavor, but when you cook it the flavor changes and it smells and tastes like artichokes! It can make you gassy though so eat them in moderation at first.
I could imagine theres plenty ginger but dude. So much variety. I've just became a big ginger fan
It's very interesting, and thank you for huge effort that you put in these videos.
Myoga is really nice. I really love it
I really appreciate your videos. I especially like the way you describe flavors in such detail, and include information about where everything comes from, and it's various uses.
My inner amateur botanist is awakened by many of your videos.
Now I've added several ginger species to my future greenhouse bucket list.
This video is more ginger than Giligan’s Island!
I LOVE the longer format videos, thank you!!
Your videos just keep getting better! So much info packed into this one.
I'm fortunate enough to be in an area of Australia where the other blue ginger you mentioned is native to (Brisbane area), and there's a native plants nursery/conservation group that sells the plants and others as seedlings. I have two in pots and am trying to figure out how to get them to thrive now.
13:37 theres an elderflower+lemon fanta that tastes like lemon soap smells and its great
I knew exactly how you would react to the galangal, I did the same thing. I sliced my up very thin then dehydrated it and turned it into a powder for nasi goreng. I also like to put it in my rice cooker to give my rice a nice little kick of flavor sometimes.
I'd love to hear your stories
Thanks for the great tour! I grow ginger here in my grow lab and outdoors... I have been refining my growing practices and have it down pretty good now. cheers! 🌱
Only a ginger can call another ginger, a ginger.
jinja pls
@@Mikee512 : )
😂 love it. gonna sing that in my head all night now x
I'd be thrilled to see a Vostok cuddling video, and I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment!😍
The one you tried in new Caledonia is used videly in eastern India(especially bengal) known as 'aam ada' literally 'mango ginger'. It's very popular in street food scene.
When we go hiking through mountains, we see those high growing ginger like plants, all green, my friends eat the yellow (ripe) seedy fruits.
Your cat is beautiful. I love the eyes.
Love the content for years now, this one a bit special!!
The Masusa in 'Sranan' (Surinamese mix language) or Masoesa ('oe' is dutch like the 'u' in spanish) from Suriname is pronounced similar to Yakuza..Masusa. This also goes for the 'a' at the end.
We have a lot of gingers even grown and wild in Suriname.
found you thru your shorts, love these deep dives into the natural flavors around us
In Malaysia, the mango ginger is called Temu Pauh. Pauh is a type of mango but in Malaysia the word mango is referring to a specific type of mango.
Thanks! I was wondering if those two are the same because I've only ever heard about Temu Pauh.
I know that fingerroot are called Temu Kunci in Malaysia.
I love your descriptions. Very creative.
Outstanding episode. I've been watching for a long time and have always loved your videos. Even then I think they have gotten even better recently!
I'm growing Australian native ginger - looking forward to seeing flowers and fruit
I grow most of these. Torch ginger is a beautiful plant when it flowers
24:50 the sap from shampoo ginger is used as shampoo/soap. Either by blending up the cones or "milking" by gently squeazing the sap out of them. "Milking", if done correctly, allows the cone to refill with more liquid. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using it like a loofah lol
The licorice-flavored seeds would probably be a hit in Scandinavia, send a boatload or two to start with. 🚢
I was immediately "I want to taste that!".. what is wrong with us scandis? :D
@benibear2995 are Sambuca, Ouzo, and Absinthe popular over there?
Seeing as it's used in Suriname you'd think we (Dutch) would have found a use for it considering the shared passion for licorice.
@@meisteremm absolutely (absinthe not as much maybe), and many of the liquorice/aniseed-y digestifs etc too :)
Gammeldansk. Which means old Danish is the prototype
that kitty was definitely understanding the word "eat" :D
Thank you for the video.
I grew common ginger for the first time last year. Super easy. Barely and inconvenience. I got a pretty good yield but I will note that most of my rhizomes were smallish.
It was kind of a pain to clean as it had so many crenulations. I do not know how the ones I find at the asian market are SO BIG but the home grown had great flavor. I froze most of it, used a lot fresh and dried the remainder. With the exception that smaller pieces (finger size) intertwine and so trap a lot of dirt everything but the cleaning is pretty much effortless. I am trying a bit different technique this year to minimize cleaning by changing the substrate. SInce it grows laterally pretty much anyone could grow it even in shallow pots so I encourage giving it a try.
A bit info on the 'torch ginger flower,' it's actually the flower of the 'galangal' ginger. It usually has two flower, male which is the one used where it grow from the roots/ground, and the female that produce the fruit -(not sure the edibility)- where it is formed at the end of the stems of the plant.
My family in Thailand has made salads with galangal and white turmeric in the same vein as papaya salad, I only had it once but it was 15 years ago and I still think about it today. It was incredible.
Fresh turmeric has a very earthy peppery taste that's really fantastic in both savory and sweet applications imo. There's a white turmeric they use in Thailand that's more mild, they sometimes have it with relishes.
Galangal is powerful, so if you dilute it, it's much nicer, just a slice infused with hot water is nice. Galangal is key to most Thai soups as well, like Tom Yum and Tom Kha (which is named for galangal).
I think it's worth even using ginger in sweet settings, I add it to my Apple pies and it's always a hit.
Those Torch Ginger flowers 🌷 🌷 🌷 are pretty, if they weren't hard to get I would put them in a vase for decoration!
I used the Madagascar wild ginger seeds to make bitters and a sort of carrot seed gin. A little sip goes a looong way.
ginger farm varieties and its useful eating parts,we with thier
I collect gingers for my shade garden. It’s just a nice plant to have around. Haven’t taste tested a lot of them. Keeping them alive is my current goal. Butterfly ginger grows the easiest and spreads the fastest. Tolerates direct sun but thrives in shade like most or all ginger
I enjoy the various ethnic/regional cuisines and all the varieties of dishes that come with local fruits/veg.
I look at supermarkets as 'survivors' of a bad 'filter system' where only 1 in 10,000 of a given variety of cultivars make it to mass-cultivation. NOT because they're the best tasting, usually because of size/aesthetics.
People like you, the dude that has saved 1000s of apple cultivars, etc are helping to shed light on what many in less developed countries know as 'their food' but you'll never see in a supermarket. Good work