Would you like a little pick-me-up? How about one of our organic ginger shots? The juice from the exotic root is said to have truly great properties: it is not only said to strengthen the immune system, but also to be effective against colds, pain or nausea. The way to success, however, is through a pungency in the finish, which for many takes some getting used to at first. This is due to the natural active ingredient gingerol, which gives fresh ginger its distinctive taste and pungency. A dash of sweet agave juice softens this a little in the organic ginger shot from Holderhof, thus shortening the “getting used to” phase. But if you get through this, it’s hard to get away from it.
Fresh ginger from Peru
In recent years, ginger has established itself in Europe as a “superfood”. However, it is not clear where it originally comes from. Experts assume that its home is in Sri Lanka. Above ground, the plant, which can grow up to 1.50 metres high, resembles reeds. But what is essential for us takes place invisibly in the widely branched rootstock – the rhizome – where the essential oils and the healthy pungent substances accumulate. Ginger is propagated by dividing the rhizome into pieces with buds, from which the new plant then grows. In the meantime, there are even a few farms in Switzerland that grow ginger and sell it fresh on the market. However, the quantities are small, which is why supermarkets usually only offer it in dried form from abroad. The large cultivation areas are in countries in the Far East, Australia or in South America, for example in Peru. There, a certified organic farmer produces the fresh ginger for the Holderhof, in the required quantity and with a high quality. It is washed on site, peeled by hand, cut into slices the size of a two Swiss franc coin and deep-frozen. It crosses the Atlantic by ship and finally reaches our site in Henau, where it is carefully processed and used in the production of various beverages.
In shots and other beverages
Ginger drinks are now a staple in every supermarket, especially now in the cool season. Some of them come from “the kitchen” of Holderhof, which develops and produces numerous ginger products as private labels for the food trade at home and abroad. Shots in smaller and larger fillings are the focus here. Typical of the beverages we produce are the small pieces of ginger, which we deliberately leave in the juice as a natural component. But the shots are by no means all there is to it: we also produce syrup from the juice of the pungent tuber and use it for flavour refinements in iced tea blends.
The ginger shots are made from fresh tubers.
Externally, the ginger plant is reminiscent of reed.