New TV Advert, Jamaican Revival, Price Rise & Ginger Snap Ice Cream

Diageo’s Jeremiah Weed Root Brew is to appear in its first UK TV advert targeted at Scotland. The advertising campaign for the ginger drink will run for a month starting on November 1st. It will be focused on Scotland where the brand is proving popular. I tried a Root Brew recently and really enjoyed it. And in case you are wondering, I don't live in Scotland. (Source: Campaign Live)

In my last post I mentioned that the Great Lakes Brewing Company will be launching its Christmas Ale (complete with fresh ginger) on November 1st. I've just read on the Ohio Breweries Beer Blog that the brewery has joined forces with Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream to create a Christmas Ale Ginger Snap ice cream. It contains the fresh ginger from the beer with extra organic ginger and homemade ginger snaps. Sounds like ginger heaven.

The ginger revival continues in Jamaica, according to the Jamaica Observer. Once grown in many parishes all over the island, ginger is now grown principally in the parish of Manchester. Research is being carried out by the locally based Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative (I don't know why either) which has been responsible for distributing 35,000 pieces of disease-free ginger of the Jamaica Blue and Jamaica Yellow varieties to selected co-operative members. The importance of the revival can be seen by the fact that Jamaica imports 70% of all that it consumes.

allAfrica reports that this week President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania has been on a working tour of the Kilimanjaro Region where he launched a ginger industry in Same District. Ginger has been produced in Same for about fifteen years but has been hampered by a lack of investment. Private sector investment is now becoming available which will allow reliable production for both domestic consumption and export to Kenya, Germany and the Netherlands. The President's visit should really be called a re-launch of the ginger industry.

Much Tanzanian ginger production is organic but because it cannot be certified as such, it is classed as non-organic. It is said that the reason it is grown organically is because farmers cannot afford any agricultural inputs like pesticides.

Autumn in the US generally means pumpkin beers and ales from American brewers. But not for Bison Organic Beer from Berkeley in California. For this brewery it is the welcome return of Organic Gingerbread Ale. Another one I'll never be able to taste. (Source: CraftBeer)

It is a good time to be a ginger farmer in the Nepalese district of Ilam, according to República. A year ago ginger fetched Rs 5 per kg. Today you can expect Rs 35 per kg, a 600 percent increase. And some traders are predicting that the price could rise further next month, possibly reaching Rs 45 to Rs 50 per kg. It seems that the reason for the increase is low production in some northern Indian states. But there is a downside to this news - Nepalese shoppers are having to pay more.

It is not unusual for Indian farmers to take out bank loans to enable them to grow ginger. But what happens when farmers are unable to repay the loans? The State Bank of India decided that it would sell the ginger at auction now. The farmers went to the Kerala High Court and argued successfully that the ginger would command a better price if sold during the peak ginger season next March. The ginger is now being held in state warehouses. (Source: The Times of India)

Tanzanian Ginger, Rum And Ginger,Quirky Beer & Nadia Variety

Generally, this blog tends to report on news from the UK, USA, India and China for the simple reason that these countries seem to generate most of the ginger news. Africa hasn't had much of a look in but now I can report on some ginger news in Tanzania. Ippmedia carried a report principally on the financial benefits of the Jatropha plant but it also mentioned a development in the ginger sector. Over 7,000 ginger farmers in the Kilimanjaro region are now reaping the unspecified but presumably financial benefits of joining a cooperative society. In the last five to six years production has more than doubled and the price has increased more than sevenfold.

I thought that 7,000 ginger farmers in one relatively small region sounded rather a lot until I discovered that the majority, if not all, of these farmers are in fact smallholders with plots ranging in size from 0.2 to 1.0 hectares. Most of the ginger, when not used for domestic consumption, is exported to Kenya, Germany and the Netherlands. Recently it was reported that ginger provides 50% of the income for this region so we can see how important it is for many families. Incidentally, the official language of Tanzania is Swahili and the Swahili word for ginger is Tangawizi.

Brooke Bond Taj Mahal has launched a ginger tea to cater for the changing tastes of Indian tea drinkers. This proves that even with the seemingly humble ginger tea there is scope for something different and distinctive. Variety is the spice of life.

I have mentioned Halewood International a number of times in the past as the maker of Crabbie's ginger drinks. You may have the impression that Halewood only makes Crabbie's products but you would be wrong. Although I may be a little bit late with this news but I read the other day that Halewood recently launched a rum-based, ginger flavoured RTD called Lazy Jacks. The drink will be marketed with the strapline "laid-back refreshing ginger tingler". I'd like to thank Halewood for being at the forefront of the UK's ginger renaissance (and no, I'm not brown nosing!).

The Morung Express sang the praises of more than one hundred ginger farming families in one village on the slopes of Mount Paona in the Indian state of Nagaland. It said that the farmers in the village of Punglwa should be recognised for the quality of their ginger and that a rich harvest is anticipated. Twenty thousand kilograms of the Nadia variety have been planted as 'seed' this year with the yield expected to be seven to tenfold. Nadia has a high fibre content and is recommended for dry ginger production. It is also resistant to inclement weather which is quite a useful attribute as Nagaland has a largely monsoon climate.

I do enjoy visiting the website of that eccentric, quirky and zany US brewer - Dogfish Head. The Delaware-based brewery has been described by international beer writer Michael Jackson as "America's most interesting and adventurous small brewery". The brewery itself describes its beers as "off-centred ales for off-centred people", a mantra I quite like. I am particularly interested in two of their beers - Ginger Peach Wheat and Pangaea. The wheat beer has been brewed not only with wheat, malt and hops but also with ginger peach black tea. As the website says, why use just water? Pangaea is a different kettle of fish altogether. This has been brewed with ingredients from every continent: water from Antarctica, basmati rice from Asia, muscavado sugar from Africa, quinoa from South America, yeast from Europe, maize from North America and, finally, crystallised ginger from Australia.