The Ginger Economy of Kerala - Dyuthi Home - Cochin University of ...

plant was described by John of Montecorvino in 1292 and by the travel er
Nicolas Conti (Purseglcve et al. 448).
In the second century A.D., ginger was included in the list of imports to
Alexandria from Red Sea that were subject to Roman customs taxes (Rosengarten
257). Ginger was introduced to Germany and France in the ninth century and
to England in the 10th century. The spice was well known in England before
the Norman conquest - it is referred to in eleventh century Anglo Saxon leech
books. During the fourth century it was, after pepper, the most common
spice and is said to have cost about 1 shilling 7 pence a pound, just about the
same price paid for a sheep (Rosengarten 258).
It was among the first of the oriental spices to be known in Europe,
where it was prominent early in the Middle Ages. For many years, it was an
important drug. It was the principal ingredient of a remedy for the'plague,
which was much used in England during the regime of Henry VIII (Hill 439).
It has been told that around 2400 B.C. a baker on the Isle of Rhodes
near Greece, prepared the first ginger bread. Shortly thereafter, the recipe
found its way to Egypt where the Egyptians savoured its excellent flavor and
served it on ceremonial occasions (Farrell 121). Later, fancy ginger bread
became popular and was a confection of Queen Elizabeth I and her court
(Purseglove et al. 448). Cheap ginger bread was also available to common
man in England during Shakespeare's time. In Love's Labour's Lost, Act V,
Scene I, Costard informs Moth, "An I had but one penny in the world, thou
shouldst have it to buy ginger bread" (Rosengarten 259).
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