Description

Ginger is a spice of commercial and medicinal importance. Sun drying of ginger rhizome retains its colour and aroma than mechanical drying of ginger rhizome using hot air dryer, but hot air dryer dries ginger rhizome faster than sun drying of ginger rhizome. Peeled or scraped rhizome reduces drying time, thus minimizing mold growth and fermentation. However, while this process decreases the fiber content by removing the outside corky skin, it also tends to remove some of the oils constituents, as they are more concentrated in the peel, and therefore reduces some of the pungency. Splited or sliced ginger rhizome dries faster than peeled ginger rhizome under the same conditions. Mechanical drying of ginger gives a more homogenous and cleaner product than sun drying of ginger. Traditional methods of ginger processing gives low capacity output while modern/mechanized methods give high capacity output.