Bhutan Crisis, Travel Retail, Value-Added Project & World's No.1 Ginger Ale

Back in May I wrote about the hardship being felt by ginger farmers in Bhutan whose crops had dropped dramatically in value compared to the previous year. BBS, Bhutan's National Public Service broadcaster, has now reported that the price has continued to fall and has reached a new low. It isn't clear what has caused the fall in price although some in Bhutan blame it on a 'bountiful' harvest in India. I'm not so sure about that as Indian ginger farmers are also suffering from a drop in price. It is ironic that the price is set at the Gelephu auction yard which is also the site of a World Food Programme centre whose role is to alleviate poverty in the country by distributing food aid.

The Boston Globe featured a potted history of the Clicquot Club as told by Paul LaCroix, the great-grandson of the founder of the ginger ale manufacturer. I'll let you read it but I will mention something that I didn't know. The name "Clicquot" was taken from the famous French champagne Veuve Clicquot way back in the 1880s.

A number of sources carried the news that India's largest retailer Future Group has entered a partnership with the Himachal Pradesh state government to promote a range of products, including ginger, under the brand name 'Brand Himachal'. It is hoped that Himachal farmers will have a guaranteed market for their products in Big Bazaar outlets in 80 cities and towns and 65 rural locations across the country. The state chief minister, Kumar Dhumal, believes that the partnership will help farmers to compete in a market currently dominated by China.

The Moodie Report reported that Berry Bros & Rudd (BBR) has identified travel retail as a market with potential for The King’s Ginger. Although the high-strength 41% abv liqueur has been around since 1903, it has only recently been given a new lease of life by BBR. The macerated ginger root drink is made by De Kuyper. If you will allow me, I'm going to shamelessly plug this drink. I'm not a spirits drinker. For years I've only drunk beer and wine. But when I reviewed this product for the All Things Ginger website I instantly fell in love with it. So give it a try. You'll find a link near the top of this page.

When I read the previous report about travel retail it dawned on me that I've never really known what it is. So if you are like me, here is a definition I gleaned from last year's Airline Retail Conference. Travel retail can be defined as "All types of sales to the travelling public". It encompasses duty free sales at airports, on board aircraft and ferries. It also includes sales at off-airport shops, border shops, seaport shops, military and diplomatic sales. Rather obvious really, isn't it? Incidentally, I've also read that travel retail is the best way to advertise a product and build a brand.

Whilst browsing during the week I came across a large project being undertaken in the Indian state of Orissa. The project, A Value Chain On Ginger & Ginger Products, started in April 2009 and will last until next summer when Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology and its four business partners will report on the outcome. The aim of the project is to increase the income for farmers by switching to elite varieties of ginger, improving post-harvest management techniques, introducing value-added product processing and, finally, commanding better prices when going to market. A website has been created for the project if you would like any further information.

The Ginger Ale Authority has named Boylan Bottlework’s Ginger Ale as the World’s No.1 Ginger Ale. The Ginger Ale Authority is a US organisation which reports on the world of ginger ale. A worthy undertaking.

Clicquot Club, Ginger Wine & Aluminium Chloride Toxicity

"Every bottle of Clicquot Club Ginger Ale is generous measure - not the skimpy bottle you are accustomed to in buying ordinary ginger ales. We believe not only in giving honest goods, but in giving honest measure. There are two generous glassfuls in every bottle - enough for two persons, or two drinks for one person. Clicquot Club Ginger Ale is made of the purest confectioners' sugar, Jamaica ginger and citric fruit flavors the earth affords - and the purest and best water. Fresh, country air sweeps through the factory, and the blending and carbonating (done under the supervision of an expert chemist) is in surroundings as clean as a model housewife's kitchen. Clicquot Club is the kind of ginger ale you would make for yourself if you had our facilities". This piece of text is taken from a newspaper advertisement published in 1911, one of a range of adverts placed by Clicquot Club across North America. I was taken not only by its quaintness but also by its complete lack of dubious and unsubstantiated claims used by advertisers until relatively recently.

The Clicquot Club Company was founded in 1881 by Henry Millis in Millis, Massachusetts. The company initially sold sparkling cider but after a few years began to focus on ginger ale which remained popular for the next 70 or so years. The steadily increasing sales of Clicquot Club Ginger Ale, made from Jamaican ginger, coincided with a sharp increase in ginger exports from Jamaica. In fact, by the 1960s, Jamaica was the third largest producer of ginger in the world after India and Sierra Leone. In 1965 Canada Dry acquired Clicquot and closed it down. It was about this time that the Jamaican ginger industry started its rapid decline from which it is still trying to recover. Were these two events linked? Was the success of Jamaican ginger a direct result of the success of Clicquot? I think that it was more than just a coincidence.

There was good news last week for ginger growers in the Indian state of Mizoram. The state government has amended its liquor prohibition law to allow growers to convert their ginger crops into wine. The change also applies to grapes, apples, passion fruit, peaches and pears. The government has acknowledged that farmers can actually earn more from converting raw crops into wine. Presumably the government will also take more in taxation.

This week's "ginger in medicine" research project is an Egyptian study entitled Role of Ginger Against the Reproductive Toxicity of Aluminium Chloride in Albino Male Rats. The study involved feeding two groups of rats aluminium chloride (AlCl3) with one of these groups also receiving a daily dose of ginger. The outcome was that the ginger feed had an ameliorating effect on the AlCl3 toxicity. I don't know much about aluminium chloride but I do know that in one form it is irritating to the skin and in another form it is used in deodorants and antiperspirants. I have also discovered a report of another Egyptian study last year but that one used grape seed extract instead of ginger. Do the Egyptians have a particular problem with aluminium chloride?

I was quite pleased yesterday when my wife discovered a rhubarb and ginger cheese. I haven't tried it yet but when I do I will publish a review on www.allthingsginger.co.uk.