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By Harold McGee
Published 2004
Ginger is the pungent, aromatic rhizome of a herbaceous tropical plant, Zingiber officinale, that is distantly related to the banana. It lends its name to a family of about 45 genera that are found throughout the tropics, and that include galangal, grains of paradise, cardamom, and turmeric. The name comes via Latin from the Sanskrit singabera, meaning horns or antlers, which the branched rhizomes resemble.