What is the difference between turmeric & ginger?

Question

What is the difference between turmeric & ginger?

Answer 1

Turmeric

(haldi)

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae which is native to tropical South Asia. It needs temperatures between 20 and 30 deg. C. and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes, and re-seeded from some of those rhizomes in the following season.

It is also often misspelled (or pronounced) as tumeric. It is also known as kunyit (Indonesian and Malay) or haldi in some Asian countries[2].

Its rhizomes are boiled for several hours and then dried in hot ovens, after which they are ground into a deep orange-yellow powder commonly used as a spice in curries and other South Asian cuisine, for dyeing, and to impart color to mustard condiments. Its active ingredient is curcumin and it has an earthy, bitter, peppery flavor and has a mustardy smell.

Sangli, a town in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra, is the largest and most important trading centre for turmeric in Asia or perhaps in the entire world

ginger

(adrak)

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a perennial plant in the family Zingiberaceae - its rhizome is commonly used as a cooking spice throughout the world. The ginger plant has a long history of cultivation known[citation needed] to originate in China and then spread to India, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Caribbean

Etymology

Latin gingiber via Sanskrit from Tamil இஞ்சி வேர் (inji ver), a word for ginger plant's root or Malayalam (inchi), Hindi called Aadrak and Gujarati called Aadu.

Chemistry



Ginger sectionGinger contains up to 3% of an essential oil that causes the fragrance of the spice. The main constituents are sesquiterpenoids with (-)-zingiberene as the main component. Lesser amounts of other sesquiterpenoids (β-sesquiphellandrene, bisabolene and farnesene) and a small monoterpenoid fraction (β-phelladrene, cineol, and citral) have also been identified.

The pungent taste of ginger is due to nonvolatile phenylpropanoid-derived compounds, particularly gingerols and shogaols. The latter are formed from the former when ginger is dried or cooked. Zingerone is also produced from gingerols during this process, and it is less pungent and has a spicy-sweet aroma.[3] Ginger is also a minor chemical irritant, and because of this was used as a horse suppository by pre-World War I mounted regiments for figging.

Ginger has a sialagogue action, stimulating the production of saliva

Answer 2

They are completely different spices!