of ginger and members of its family comes
from the gingerols, chemical relatives of the
chilli’s capsaicin and black pepper’s piperine
(p. 394). The gingerols are the least powerful
of the group, and the most easily altered by
drying and cooking. When ginger is dried, its
gingerol molecules lose a small side group of
atoms and are transformed into shogaols,
which are about twice as pungent: so dried
ginger is stronger than fresh. Cooking reduces
ginger pungency by transforming some
gingerols and shogaols into zingerone, which
is only slightly pungent and has a sweet-spicy
aroma.
Grains of Paradise Grains of paradise,
guinea grains, alligator pepper, and melegueta
pepper are all names for the small seeds of
Aframomum melegueta. This member of the
ginger family is a native of West Africa, and
was used in Europe from the Middle Ages
until the 19th century, when it became a