As with previous posts, the topic's origin is more than one place. The ginger does indeed come from Fiji, but the company that packages it and distributes it, the Ginger People Group, is based in the U.S., California specifically. This business is aptly named, as their products all revolve around ginger. They make several kinds of ginger-based candies, ginger beer, and ginger energy drinks. Also various products designed for ginger's alleged medical benefits, which are said to aid in digestion, help battle prostate cancer, nausea, and arthritis, and boost circulation, immunity, and energy, among others things. The wonderful cable television program "Mythbusters" actually tested the notion that ginger pills can ward off seasickness, using a bizarre seasickness torture chair, and found that they actually worked, with no side effects. (It was graded "plausible" for other, more detailed reasons--see episode guide for more information, if you care.) According to the Ginger People Group, Fiji boasts some of the best ginger on Earth. They cite the island nation's nutrient-rich soil, pristine ecosystems, and natural tropical rainfall irrigation. Also, the farmer's strategy of rotating the crops with cassava and taro supposedly pays dividends, too.
To give a very brief overview, Fiji consists of over 330 islands, and over 500 islets, in the Melanesian area of the Pacific. The island's inhabitants traditionally used the term "Viti" to refer to their home, but their neighbors the Tongan Islanders used the name "Fiji." English explorer Captain James Cook help promote the Fiji term, and it's stuck. The island group has been independent since 1970, and a republic since 1987. Alas, it's also been marked by political instability, with several military coups and other governmental changes during this time. One of its old nicknames particularly interested me--the "Cannibal Isles." In this case the title, often used inaccurately to deride an enemy country, appears to be accurate, as there is evidence that Fijians did partake in this controversial practice. The Guinness Book of World Records even has one for the person who ate the most people in their life. A Fijian chief, Ratu Udre Udre is listed as the champ, with at least 872 (and perhaps up to 1000) individual human victims consumed. (This number was taken from the tradition of keeping a type of stone for every human eaten, and counting the pile later.) (Furthermore, I don't mean to pick on the Fijians here. Every country has had, shall we say, morally questionable cultural practices at one time or another. This particular bit of historical trivia just piqued my interest.)
But back to the product. I ate a bag from the company's gin-gins line, the basic crystallized ginger flavor. Other flavors in this line include spicy apple, peanut, uncrystallized ginger drops, double strength, super strength, and hot coffee. The individual pieces were about .75 by .75 inch cubes (or about 2 cm. by 2 cm.), which were light brown in color, coated with crystallized sugar. The texture was firm and chewy, but not exactly crunchy. To be blunt, these candies were very much like the other dried, crystallized ginger candies I've had over the years. Which is to say, excellent. A nice spicy "bite," but not too much. I love ginger, and ginger candy such as this has always been very tasty. I don't know that the Fijian ginger was better than the other company's ginger, but it certainly wasn't any worse, either. If you like ginger, you'll probably enjoy these. Also, not surprisingly, these candies are billed as being all-natural, fat free, vegan, and gluten free, if you care about any of these things. Finally, don't know if this is coincidental, but the gin-gins cartoon logo mascot is a little funny and strange. It's a anthropomorphized piece of ginger, complete with limbs and a face, who's reclining on a pile of dried ginger, and tossing a piece in his (or her, that's not clear!) mouth. Or, put another way, this individual is lying on the dried, dismembered corpses of his/her comrades, while also cannibalizing them!
No comments:
Post a Comment