Editing Ginger (section)

== History ==
The first written record of ginger comes from the ''[[Analects]]'', written by the [[Disciples of Confucius]]<ref name="Rainey2010">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ID4gMCaLr0MC&pg=PA10 |title=Confucius and Confucianism: The Essentials|author=Lee Dian Rainey |page=10|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4443-2360-3 }}</ref> in China during the [[Warring States period]] (475–221 BCE).<ref name="pickersgill">{{cite book |editor1-last=Prance |editor1-first=Ghillean |editor2-last=Nesbitt |editor2-first=Mark |last1=Pickersgill |first1=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Pickersgill |date=2005 |title=The Cultural History of Plants |publisher=Routledge |pages=163–164 |isbn=0-415-92746-3}}</ref> In it, [[Confucius]] was said to eat ginger with every meal.<ref name="pickersgill" /> In 406, the monk [[Faxian]] wrote that ginger was grown in pots and carried on Chinese ships to prevent [[scurvy]].<ref name="pickersgill" /> During the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), ginger was being imported into China from southern countries.<ref name="pickersgill" />

Ginger spice was introduced to the Mediterranean by the Arabs, and described by writers like [[Dioscorides]] (40–90) and [[Pliny the Elder]] (24–79).<ref name="pickersgill" /> In 150, [[Ptolemy]] noted that ginger was produced in [[Ceylon]] (Sri Lanka).<ref name="pickersgill" /> Ginger—along with its relative, [[galangal]]—was imported into the [[Roman Empire]] as part of very expensive herbal remedies that only the wealthy could afford, e.g. for the kidneys. [[Aëtius of Amida]] describes both ginger and galangal as ingredients in his complex herbal prescriptions.<ref name="dalby2000">{{cite book |last1=Dalby |first1=Andrew |title=Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices |date=2000 |publisher=University of California Press | pages = 78 |isbn=0-520-22789-1 }}</ref> Raw and preserved ginger were imported into Europe in increased quantity during the [[Middle Ages]] after European tastes shifted favorably towards its culinary properties; during this time, ginger was described in the official [[Pharmacopoeia|pharmacopeias]] of several countries.<ref name="drugs">{{cite web |title=Ginger |url=https://www.drugs.com/npp/ginger.html |publisher=Drugs.com |date=26 September 2022 |accessdate=4 September 2023}}</ref> In 14th century England, a pound of ginger cost as much as a sheep.<ref name="pickersgill" />

Archaeological evidence of ginger in northwest Europe comes from the wreck of the Danish-Norwegian flagship, ''[[Gribshunden]]''. The ship sank off the southern coast of Sweden in the summer of 1495 while conveying King Hans to a summit with the Swedish Council. Among the luxuries carried on the ship were ginger, cloves, saffron, and pepper.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Larsson |first1=Mikael |last2=Foley |first2=Brendan |date=2023-01-26 |title=The king's spice cabinet–Plant remains from Gribshunden, a 15th century royal shipwreck in the Baltic Sea |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=e0281010 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0281010 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=9879437 |pmid=36701280|bibcode=2023PLoSO..1881010L }}</ref>

The ginger plant was smuggled onto the Caribbean islands from Asia sometime in the 16th century, along with [[black pepper]], [[cloves]], and [[cinnamon]], at the encouragement of the Spanish Crown, though only ginger thrived. It eventually displaced sugar to become the leading export crop on both [[Hispaniola]] and [[Puerto Rico]] by the end of the century, until the introduction of slave labour from Africa made sugar more economical to produce in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aram|first=Bethany|date=2015|title=Caribbean ginger and Atlantic trade, 1570–1648|journal=Journal of Global History|volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=410–430 |location=Cambridge, UK|doi=10.1017/S1740022815000200}}</ref>