The Hawaiian 'Awapuhi-ko'oko'o means walking-stick ginger.
The ginger family (Zingiberaceae) is mostly native to the fields and rain forests of Indo-Malaysia. Here in Hawaii they are grown for their roots and sold in Hawaiian markets. Trade of ginger was developed first in Indonesian and along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Eventually gourmets in the Mediterranean area became well acquainted with them. Even the early Greek and Roman writings have recorded the use of ginger as a spice..
Although more popularly known as a spice the flower of gingers are one of the more widely used tropical plants. These bright red flowers can be seen during our festival times in the South Pacific as colorful dresses. But, as you can imagine, they are a colorful contributor to most local flower arrangements - freshly cut from the garden or from wild patches. Bracts are also made into stunning leis (garlands) such as in Samoa where the red ginger lei is worn by royalty in important ceremonies.
Many gingers have medicinal uses from helping asthma to relieving stomach aches. Others gingers are used as perfumes and some are thought to have supernatural values in casting away evil spirits. The Hawaiians once used the foamy flower heads of the variegated wild ginger for shampooing hair and quenching thirst.
Young ginger roots are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or just cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. They can also be stewed in boiling water to make ginger tea, to which honey is often added as a sweetener. The juice from old ginger roots is extremely potent and is often used as a spice in Chinese cuisine to flavor dishes such as in seafood and mutton.
Ginger is also candied, is used as a flavoring for candy, cookies, crackers and cake, and is the main flavor in ginger ale, a sweet, carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage, as well as the similar, but somewhat spicier beverage ginger beer. A ginger-flavored liqueur called Canton is produced in the Guangdong province of China; it is advertised to be based on a recipe created for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and made from six different varieties of ginger.
In Western cuisine, ginger is traditionally restricted to sweet foods, such as ginger ale, gingerbread, ginger snaps, ginger cake and ginger biscuits.
Powdered dry ginger root (ground ginger) is typically used to add spiciness to gingerbread and other recipes. Ground and fresh ginger taste quite different and ground ginger is a particularly poor substitute for fresh ginger.
A similiar appearing but unrelated, native species of eastern North America, Asarum canadense, is also known as "wild ginger", and its root has similar aromatic properties, should not be used as a substitute because it contains carcinogen aristolochic acid. This plant is also a powerful diuretic, or urinary stimulator. Stop to smell the flowers; just don't eat them.
