Hot ginger.

Dried, powdered ginger was exported from India to Europe in Roman times, two thousand years ago. Fresh ginger, however, is a recent arrival in European shops, in part because of the popularity of Asian cooking.

Ginger is known scientifically as Zingiber officinale. The word Zingiber is thought to come from the Sanskrit word singabera which itself is from Arabic and Greek words meaning 'shaped like a horn'. It probably got its name because the rhizomes look like a deer's antlers.

Ginger plants can grow to about 1 m tall. The upright shoots sprout from the fleshy rhizomes at the base of the plants which are the important part for food and medicine. Although the rhizomes grow underground, they are swollen stems, not roots. which is why fresh ginger is often referred to as 'stem ginger'.

Most ginger comes from India. It is widely used in traditional medicines and in western and eastern cuisines.

Ginger beer, a low or non-alcoholic drink made with fresh or powdered ginger, has long been popular popular in the West Indies and in Britain. The pottery ginger beer bottle from an Aberdeen brewery dates to the early 1900s. Use the lens to spot the spelling mistake on the bottle - our forebears were not always as well educated as we sometimes imagine!

Information taken from the Kew Gardens website.