Husband Creches, Ginger Fraud, Giant Snails & Low Calorie Ginger Beer

Crabbie’s, famous for its ginger beers, is opening “man sheds” or "husband crèches" in a number of UK shopping centres for men to relax, drink ginger beer and play with gadgets during the Christmas shopping rush. The idea is that wives and girlfriends will leave their partner at a shed, spend some time shopping unhindered and unencumbered, and then collect him when it is time to go home. What an excellent idea. Clever people, these Crabbie's folk. (Source: Talking Retail).

The BBC carried an unusual story regarding a company who imported what it claimed was ginger into the UK but actually turned out to be garlic. The company informed HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that it was importing thousands of kilos of ginger. But when the UK Border Agency checked a particular consignment it found 7,000 kilos of garlic. HMRC later checked previous shipping records and found that the company's importation of garlic had stopped. Over the same period the company's importation of ginger had increased five-fold. So why did the company pass off garlic as ginger? If you import garlic into the EU you have to pay an import duty imposed to protect EU garlic growers. Ginger does not incur any duty. The owner of the company, who has since disappeared, has now been found guilty in his absence of avoiding £2m in import duty.

FoodManufacture.co.uk carried a feature on the increasing competition and developments in the UK brewing sector. Recent research from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has shown that there are now 1,009 breweries plying their trade in the UK. Much of the output from these breweries, many of them microbreweries, is aimed at the growing number of 18-24 year olds who are interested in trying flavoured beers. And a popular variety in this flavoured beer range is ginger-spiced real ale.

Concern is growing amongst farmers in Antigua who are losing their ginger and other crops to an invasion of Giant African snails, according to the Antigua Observer. Unfortunately there isn't an effective means of control or eradication so we will have to wait and see. Hopefully this isn't the end of the story.

I don't know much about ginger on Antigua but I do know that it was introduced to the island by the settlers and that the Antigua Brewery produces a ginger ale.

Good news for Fever-Tree, the British premium mixer drinks brand. It has won a listing with Tesco for its Naturally Light Ginger Beer. The low calorie drink contains 60 calories per serving and is made with the same ingredients as Fever-Tree's signature Ginger Beer with the exception of the sweetener where natural fruit juice is used instead of cane sugar. (Source: The Grocer).

The inhabitants of Kazakhstan drink about 3 billion litres of tea a year. This puts the country in the top five tea-consuming countries in the world. Much of this tea is black tea and much of this black tea is consumed with something added such blueberries or cranberries or, you've guessed it, ginger. (Source: Kazakh TV)

The Himalayan reports that in the last fiscal year Nepal exported Rs74.26 billion worth of products and that in the current fiscal year the target is Rs100 billion. Although ginger contributed a mere Rs280 million last year, for a lot of small farmers and their families it is the only source of income. Is a Rs1 billion target achievable as has been mooted? I sincerely hope so.

Ancient Grater, Spiced Beers & Ginger Milk

An exhibition of ancient Chinese artefacts featuring a second century BC bronze ginger grater has opened at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. From the Western Han dynasty, the grater was excavated at Xianggangshan in 1983. You can see it online by viewing the virtual exhibition and stepping through until you reach the kitchen section. I think you'll agree that the design wouldn't look out of place in your kitchen today. In fact, similar devices made from bamboo are still used in some Chinese provinces.

I never cease to be amazed by the number of new ginger-spiced beers and real ales which regularly appear on the market. I've just found another one which, technically, isn't new but it is making a re-appearance. The Harpoon Brewery, from Boston MA, will release its 100 Barrel Series #42 Ginger Wheat ale this month. This ale, at 6.8% abv, should have been bottled last week for the first time since 2009.

I did stumble across another ginger-spiced beer last week. Derby, an English city in the East Midlands, has been named by the Campaign for Real Ale as the UK's real ale capital. The city has received this accolade in honour of its seven breweries. I took a particular interest in the Middle Earth Brewery as it brews Black Rose, a chocolate and ginger stout.

Keen to find out more about Black Rose, I contacted the brewery for some additional information. I shall let Carla Johnson, a brewer at Middle Earth Brewery, tell you a little about this interesting beer. "Black Rose started off as a stout only for winter but due to its success we have been brewing it over spring too. I wanted to create a ginger beer but so many breweries had made pale ales with ginger so we knew it needed to be different. I then started to think of stouts and could not think of a ginger stout! My partner (Steve Twells) and his friend devised the stout recipe and then we added the ginger to the brewing process. Powdered ginger is added to the mash tun when the hops are added and then I add grated root ginger to the cask for the flavour to develop". Thanks Carla.

Parakhi reported on a welcome development by the Nepalese government's Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) which has announced plans to help ginger farmers throughout the country. I've mentioned before about the problems faced by farmers trying to sell their ginger crops. MoCS will now create a number of processing units in the major ginger producing districts and a much sought-after storage facility.

Wise Monkeys is an interesting collaborative blog based in Vancouver, Canada. It contains posts on an eclectic range of subjects including one on how to make ginger milk. I've read about ginger milk before but have never actually tried this Chinese dessert. Maybe now is the time.

Ginger Xmas Hit, Winter Beer Festival, Ginger Wine & Increased Earnings

I was extremely pleased to read in the Daily Mail last week that ginger is the big success story in the UK's food and drink sectors this Christmas. The Mail quoted a recent statistic that exports of root ginger from India, the source of the cheapest good quality ginger, have gone up by 76pc year on year. I think that the implication was that UK ginger food and drink products use Indian ginger rather than, say, Chinese ginger which has a strong presence in the UK. My feeling is that Chinese ginger is popular in its raw form for domestic consumption but Indian ginger is preferred for manufactured products.

It's only a month until the 2012 National Winter Ales Festival at the Sheridan Suite in Manchester. The festival, according to CAMRA, will feature over 300 real ales, foreign beers, ciders and perries. The British draft beers category should contain a number of beers with ginger. The 1648 Brewing Co from near Lewes in East Sussex will supply Ginger No.1, a blend of smoked malt and root ginger. The Beartown Brewery from Congleton in Cheshire will supply a blonde ale called Ginger Bear. The Marble brewery from Manchester will be supplying a beer that I know absolutely nothing about. Finally, Robinsons from Stockport will present its famous Ginger Tom, a speciality strong ale brewed with Chinese bruised ginger root.

I discovered on the 1648 website that the Ginger No.1 beer was originally called Ginger Nol. But why Ginger Nol? (I often ask that about many beer names). Well, Oliver Cromwell had red hair and his nickname was "Old Nol". Nol is an old word meaning lump or stump which can be loosely translated as head. Hence we have Ginger Nol! The brewery had to change the name as people insisted on calling it Ginger No.1.

The Times of India reported on Christmas in Nagpur, the largest city in central India and the third largest city in the state of Maharashtra. It mentioned that as winters are cold, ginger wine is very popular because "it creates heat in the body and soothes the throat". The average low temperature for the city is 12C (54F) which, to me, doesn't seem that low but when you have a peak average high of 42C (108F), I would probably find 12C a touch chilly. I also learned that although Mumbai is the state capital, Nagpur is the winter and auxiliary capital. I can't find out why the state needs a winter capital; does anyone know?

JustLuxe, an online affluent lifestyle guide, featured Elixir G, the world's only liquid ginger mix. The Los Angeles-based drink can be used in cocktails, salads and desserts. I was drawn to the article by the paragraph describing the selection and production process. The best ginger root in the world, according to the drink's creator Bill Tocantins, is sourced from a number of countries including Thailand, Brazil and India. Ginger root extract is combined with lemon juice and pure cane sugar to produce a natural drink with no preservatives, chemicals or dyes. I've no idea how you get hold of it.

There has been a surprise development in the sad story of the ginger farmer suicides in the state of Kerala in India. IBNLive has reported that farmers from Wayanad, the epicentre of the crisis, are leasing land in the neighbouring state of Karnataka for next September in the hope that the price of ginger will rise. Another IBNLive report stated that a report on the ginger farmer migration will be submitted to the Keralan state government. An IPS story on the same subject has said that the agrarian crisis is severe. A researcher in agrarian distress told IPS that there "was a huge gap between income earned from agriculture and the input costs incurred by farmers".

After reading about the crisis caused by the drop in the price of ginger, it was strange to read about the big increase in earnings from Indian ginger exports in the first seven months of this fiscal year. Earnings more than doubled from Rs 43.47 crore (434,700,000) to Rs 105.42 crore (1,054,200,000).

And finally, what are ginger infused hot towels? I've noticed that a number of health clubs, spas and beauty salons offer this ginger steam towel treatment but, to be honest, I've no idea what it does apart from opening and cleansing the pores. Let me know if you have had this treatment or recommend it. What does the ginger do?