or Japanese ginger is the species ''Zingiber mioga'' in the family

Zingiberaceae Zingiberaceae () or the ginger family is a family of flowering plants made up of about 50 genera with a total of about 1600 known species of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes distributed throughout tropical ...

. It is a deciduous herbaceous

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

native to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and the southern part of

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>Cole TCH, Nürnberger
"Zingiber mioga and its Cultivars,"
''The Plantsman. Royal Horticultural Society.'' December 2014, 4: 226-229. Only its edible flower buds and flavorful shoots are used in cooking. The flower buds are finely shredded and used in

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese language, Japanese: ) is based on rice with m ...

as a garnish for ''

miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus ''Aspergillus oryzae''), and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and spreads; p ...

'' soup, '' sunomono'', and dishes such as roasted eggplant. In

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles which are associated with Korean culture. This cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomad ...

, the flower buds are skewered alternately with pieces of meat and then are pan-fried.

Cultivation

A traditional crop in Japan, myoga ginger has been introduced to cultivation in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

for export to the Japanese market. As a woodland plant, myoga has specific shade requirements for its growth. It is frost-tolerant to , and possibly colder. Three variegated

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s are known: 'Dancing Crane', 'Silver Arrow' and 'White Feather'. They are less cold-hardy than unvariegated plants.

Medicinal properties

Myoga has shown promise for potentially anticarcinogenic properties.Ha Won Kim ''et al.''
"Suppressive Effects of Mioga Ginger and Ginger Constituents on Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species Generation, and the Expression of Inducible Pro-Inflammatory Genes in Macrophages,"
''Antioxidants & Redox Signaling.'' November/December 2005, 7(11-12): 1621-1629; retrieved 2013-8-4.

Gallery

File:Zingiber mioga.jpg, Plants File:R0016749.JPG, Fruits with red interiors and black seeds with a whitish

aril An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ova ...

File:Three-myoga-inapack-aug2-2015.jpg, Buds prepared for sale

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1196818 Flora of China Flora of Japan Flora of Korea Inflorescence vegetables Japanese cuisine Japanese vegetables Stem vegetables Zingiber