Ginger

What we call root ginger isn't a root really. It's a rhizome'. So you can cut it up and plant. Except the supermarkets knock the sprouts off or dowse in something to stop them growing. They think people may be horrified to think that their ginger could actually GROW

Ginger

Grown originally in India and China from ancient times, it was traded in Europe around 1000 AD, Marco Polo saw the plant growing in China, Sumatra and Malabar in 1280 and imported it into Europe as a sweetmeat early in the Middle Ages. The Arabs took the plant from India to East Africa in the 13th century and the Portuguese took it to West Africa and other parts of the tropics in the 16th century, thus cutting out India, which had been a major producer before 1500. The living rhizomes (which we call roots) are easy to transport and grow to produce new plants, ginger was quickly planted throughout the tropics. The Spaniards took the plant to Mexico soon after the conquest and to Jamaica, from where over 1000 tonnes of ginger were exported to Spain in 1547. Jamaica, which was British after 1660, continued to be a major producer and exporter of high quality ginger and still is today. It was part of the slave trade in Barbados, where one in ten slaves produced ginger (or cotton).