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| Home > Spice Producing Areas > Roots
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| | Roots - Spice Producing Areas
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 Onion is too well known to need any description. It is used both for cooking and as a condiment for flavoring and pickling. It is grown practically all over India. In fact, India is one of the world`s largest producers of onion and has been exporting onions worth Rs. 70 to 80 crores annually. Admittedly, onion is one of the most important commercial vegetable crops of India.
According to available historical records, Ginger was certainly known to and highly esteemed by the ancient Greeks and Romans who obtained the spice from Arabian traders via Red Sea. It was introduced into Germany and France in the ninth century and to England in the tenth century. Since the ginger rhizome can be easily transported in a living state for considerable distances, the plant has been introduced to many tropical and sub-tropical countries. It is now cultivated in several parts of the world, the most important producing regions being India, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Southern China, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia. Of these, Jamaica and India produces the best quality ginger, followed by the Western African variety.
In India, about 70 % of the total ginger production is confined to Kerala State, alone which also produces the best quality ginger. However the recent report says, the ginger produced in Mizoram and adjoining Churachandpur district of Manipur produces ginger of best quality though quantity is less.
Garlic has been cultivated practically throughout India as an important minor spice or condiment crop.
Horse Raddish is a native of the marshy districts of Eastern Europe, it is grown in the USA, to a small extent in gardens both in North India and the hill stations of South India.
Stone leek grown from cold regions of Siberia to the tropics of Southern China and Southern Asia shows its remarkable flexible range of adaptation to climate. It does not produce bulbs and there is considerable difference in morphological characteristics of different cultivars.
Lovage is a perennial plant of the parsley family introduced from Europe. It has been grown occasionally as a garden plant. It is now cultivated in certain localities in New England, the USA and some European countries.
Shallot belongs to the onion and garlic family and is similar in properties to that of garlic. The shallot is a native of Palestine and is cultivated in the USA and some European countries, and in Indian gardens for its bulbs and green leaves. Clusters of greenish white or red cloves occur at the base of its hollow cylindrical leaves. A variety of shallot, smaller and with a large number of cloves is exported to Sri Lanka and Malaysia from Chennai.
Sweet flag or Calamus is reported to be common in Kashmir and Kumaun range of the Himalayan forests. The rhizomes are collected from the Himalayan forests and brought to Kathgodam from where they are dispatched to Mumbai, Kolkata and Kanauj etc.
Turmeric, a herbaceous perennial, 60 to 90 cm high with a short stem and tufted leaves, native of India or China, is now a commercial crop of the tropics. It is cultivated extensively in India, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam and few Far Eastern countries. India is by far the largest producer of turmeric in the world. The main turmeric growing areas are Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and few North Eastern States.
Yellow Zeodary is a type of turmeric that grows wild in many states in India. It is also cultivated up to limited extent in Andhra Pradesh. It is mostly used as another variety of turmeric.
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