How Funny Do You Think You Are, Ice Cream, Beer & Beat The Heat

I shall start this week by congratulating Yorvale for winning both Best in Class & Best Ice Cream at the Great Yorkshire Show for its Lemon, Honey and Ginger ice cream. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's the ginger! Yorvale produces its ice cream from its own herd of 40 cows.

Asia's biggest food industry event, the Taipei International Food Show, was held at the end of last month with the aim of launching new products in both Taiwan and overseas. One of the participants was the Indonesian Trade Ministry who hosted a pavilion with the theme "Remarkable Indonesia". With Indonesia being one of the ginger world's major players, it won't surprise you to learn that one of the products on show was a ginger juice. Exports of Indonesian ginger root has dropped dramatically in recent years so I am wondering whether the export of value-added products such as ginger juice is the preferred option. In a previous post I mentioned that ginger from four countries including Indonesia will be part of the Sustainable Spices Initiative.

In the last fiscal year, India exported 5.75 lakh tonnes of spices, a near ten per cent increase over the previous year. Of this total, ginger contributed four per cent which equated to two per cent of earnings. Considering that the majority of Indian ginger is produced for domestic consumption, we can see that it is also an important foreign exchange earner. (In case you are wondering, a lakh is a unit in the numbering system used in the Indian subcontinent equal to one hundred thousand).

Denver's Westword blog reports that Crabtree Brewing is moving to larger premises. Why is this of interest? Well, the brewery will now be able to make more of its regular beers including Ginger Bee, a 6.5% abv blonde ale brewed with fresh hand-cut ginger and orange blossom honey.

Americans love to add ginger to blonde beers and wheat beers. This brings me to Calicraft, a three-month-old brewery in California, which brews a 4.6% abv ginger wheat beer called Napa Smith.

August 6th this year is the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence. Celebrations will be held all over the world including a programme of film, music and comedy shows in London called Respect Jamaica 50. And Retail Times informs us that the official soft drinks sponsor of these shows will be Old Jamaica ginger beer from Cott Beverages. I've never tried this drink but Jamaicans are said to be very proud of it as it contains their beloved local root ginger with its internationally renowned fiery taste.

Old Jamaica has also been busy (and, presumably, having a good time) conducting a survey on British humour. According to Digital Spy, the survey found that 55% of men believe that they are funnier than anyone else they know compared to just 22% of women.

If you visit the Old Jamaica website before July 30th, you can enter a joke in the You Can't Beat An Old Jamaican competition.

The Toronto Star carried a timely article on using ginger in drinks to keep cool in summer. I say 'timely' as here in the south of England we are experiencing days of very warm weather (30-32C). I know this is nothing compared to what the USA has been suffering from recently but after months of wind & rain, 30C is welcome. We all know that ginger in winter can be warming but ginger in summer can also be both refreshing and uplifting. Although the article is only concerned with cocktails and beers, it is still an interesting read.

Thomas Henry, More Wheat Beers & A Vegetarian Symbol

Mixology is the art of mixing alcoholic drinks. It is also the name of a German trade magazine for bartenders and drink connoisseurs. Recently the magazine contained an article comparing a number of ginger beers (Gosling's, Fentimans and Thomas Henry) from a German point of view. What attracted my attention most was Thomas Henry and the fact that, despite its name, it is a German company. The name refers to an 18th-century scientist and surgeon-apothecary from Manchester, England, who is credited with the first production of carbonated water. There is one thing that puzzles me about Thomas Henry the company. If you compare the English and German-language websites you will see that both sites refer to a ginger ale. But the English-language site also contains a ginger beer whereas the same drink on the German-language site is called "Spicy Ginger".

black & white, a newspaper from Birmingham, Alabama, reports the arrival of a Belgian-style witbier containing ginger. White Thai, from the Westbrook Brewing Company in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is spiced with lemongrass and ginger root and comes in at 5% abv. As we have seen in previous posts, the Americans love their witbier with ginger, something the Belgians appear to have missed.

And talking of previous posts, here's something I forgot to mention at the time. Two weeks ago the Monday Night Brewing Company from Atlanta, Georgia, launched Fu ManBrew, a 5.2% abv ginger wheat beer. This is the third offering from a brewery which began life in a weekly Bible study group.

Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Cold Stores has relaunched its Elephant Ginger Beer (EGB) in India to meet new vegetarian labelling requirements. These requirements state that vegetarian food and drink products on sale in India must be identified with a green dot. EGB uses natural ginger extracts produced by 250 farmers. (Source: Sunday Observer)

this is Somerset reported that a new ginger soft drink is about to be launched in the UK. KOJI Lemon & Ginger, from Future Drinks Ltd, is currently being bottled and will soon be launched in pubs, cafes and delicatessens in the South West. This Japanese-style infusion also contains persimmon, goji berries, hops, cranberry, lemon zest, and apple. I shall look forward to trying it.

The Public Ledger contained a small article about how Indian ginger prices have risen by nearly a quarter in recent weeks. This rise has been attributed to farmers growing less ginger than previous years because of recent low returns. And there is icing on the cake as well. The crop this year is looking very good. Unfortunately, I can't tell you any more about this article as we have to pay to find out.

A Small Selection Of Ginger-Spiced Beers From Around The World

If you like your ginger and you like your real ale and you like the combination of both then this post is just for you. Ginger-spiced beers and ales are springing up all the time all around the world and this is a small selection of those new beers I've encountered just over the last few days.

Starting at home and last Saturday saw the launch of Adnams Ginger Beer. The brewery uses the pale ale malt wort used for its Broadside offering and then adds ginger, orange peel, lemon and lime zest. At 2.5% abv, this appears to be an extremely quaffable drink.

In the spring, Oxfordshire Ales started producing a limited-edition range of unusual beers. Under the name 'Baby Ox', these beers will be produced at the rate of one a month using rare hops and obscure ingredients and recipes. This month's offering is Ginger Ale Baby Ox, a rich copper ale with a hint of ginger.

Over to Italy. one of my favourite countries, and the Birrificio del Ducato brewery from the village of Roncole Verdi in the province of Parma. Here they produce New Morning, a Belgian Saison with added ginger and coriander. It is amazing how many brewers are producing ginger Saisons now. As a bonus, here are a couple of pieces of trivia: the beer is named after a Bob Dylan song, and the village is the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi.

Across the pond to Arizona now and a seasonal beer which is making an unseasonal return. San Tan Brewing Company's Winter Warmer will make an appearance on July 14th at the brewery's Christmas in July celebration. This ale is based on a traditional English Old Ale recipe and then spiced with 10lbs of fresh ginger and 10 gallons of Arizona orange blossom honey. Take care if you decide to pop along - it is 9.5% abv.

I may be a little to late with this one. It was early June that the Dogfish Head brewery released Konichiwit, a 4.9% abv Belgian-style wit bier made with fresh ginger root and wasabi. Availability is limited so it may well have already gone.

Up into Canada now and the Garrison Brewing Company in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The brewery is celebrating its 15th anniversary by brewing two special beers. The first is called 15th Anniversary Hops, Mango & Ginger and it is made with real mango, shaved fresh ginger and 15 varieties of hops.

Ginger Recall, Codex, New Releases & Zero Waste

A YouGov poll for Very Lazy, the British cooking ingredients specialist, has found that nearly a quarter of men (24%) couldn't identify root ginger from this picture. I don't know whether to be surprised or not. I suppose I should be; then again I am biased. The corresponding figure for women is nearly one in ten (11%). So why do men find it more difficult? Discuss.

Sometimes we come across a ginger product recall but, thankfully, not too often. But last week we noted that Coop Denmark is recalling fresh ginger over fears that pesticide levels of HCH could be above permitted limits. Coop Denmark is Denmark's leading retailer operating six retail chains and subsidiaries. The Danes do like their ginger so there could be a lot of ginger being returned.

The ginger being recalled in Denmark originated in China where the government is attempting to reduce farmers use of pesticides. According to China Daily in 2007, farmers were applying 1.45 million tons of pesticides a year on a range of crops. This was almost twice the amount necessary. Regulated HCH use is still allowed in China but I have read that it has been banned in Nigeria, another major ginger producing country.

The Himalayan Times reported that Nepal is to raise the quality of ginger destined for export to meet the international Codex standard. Most of Nepal's ginger exports have normally gone to neighbouring India but this valuable avenue has now all but closed. By improving the standard of ginger, Nepal hopes to meet the import requirements of replacement countries. This change follows the recent announcement of the formation of a national ginger association to represent all interested parties.

If you are interested in the Codex standard for ginger (Codex Stan 218-1999) you can read it here. It covers everything you could possibly want to know regarding the export of ginger covering quality, sizing, tolerances, presentation and labelling.

Malaysia's Daily Express reported that the state government of Sabah, the second largest state in Malaysia, is planning to make it the largest producer of ginger in the country. The report did not mention how the government is going to achieve this but I did find news from over two years ago in Fresh Plaza which stated that ginger farmers in Sabah asked for government assistance to modernise the production process. It also stated that Sabah had to import ginger from China in order to meet domestic demand. So becoming the largest producer should mean that Sabah becomes a net exporter.

We have a number of new ginger products to report this week. We'll start with CaryTown Teas from Richmond, Virginia. This North American Tea Champion runner-up in 2010 has launched a ginger & turmeric herbal tea. The tea also contains liquorice root, orange peel and lemongrass.

Wheat beers are becoming, or have become, very popular in the USA. I've reported on a number of occasions about the increasing number of ginger wheat beers. Well, another one can be added to the list. Texas-based Faust Brewing Company has launched Holy Whit!, a summer seasonal wheat beer made with ginger & honey. I really must find one to try.

Another drink which is starting to take off both here in the UK and in the USA is ginger cider. Vermont-based Woodchuck Cidery has launched Private Reserve Ginger cider, according to Beerpulse.com. It contains organic yellow ginger from Hawaii's Big Island.

Interestingly, Hawaii is one of the few places in the world to grow organic ginger. According to Biker Dude of Puna Organics, yellow ginger comes from Japan but once grown on Hawaiian soil it ceases to be Japanese Yellow Ginger and becomes Hawaiian Yellow Ginger.

An unusual workshop took place recently in the Philippines. The Magsasaka Siyentista from WESVARRDEC (Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium) demonstrated to farmers a method of processing ginger with the aim of generating zero waste. This seems to be achieved by finding a use for the by-products. For example, ginger pulp, a by-product of producing ginger powder and previously just thrown away, can now be used in pastillae and jam. By the way, a Magsasaka Siyentista is a farmer scientist.

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.