Bentong Ginger: What we do

Amongst my favourite rhizome is the Bentong Ginger.  Its benefits are well documented and it is a popular herbal spice.  At the farm, we grow it and we have to keep rotating the area where we plant it because it "eats" a lot so I need to let the soil rejuvenate before planting in the same location again.
Although it stores well, I always like to process it as soon as it is harvested.  Apart from using it fresh, we do process it to a concentrate drink and to a dry, powdered form.

Our concentrate is a blend of the ginger, turmeric and black pepper.  As it is a concentrate, it can be diluted to prepare a drink, either hot or cold.  It is also used in cooking as well as a marinate.
As no preservatives or additives are used, it needs to be stored refrigerated.  This is one of our popular products and we produce it in batches as needed.  Our customers use it for many reasons:

1. to maintain their digestive system and as a preventive measure against leaky gut
2. to control cholesterol
3. to reduce gas and bloating
4. to reduce joint aches and pains including for arthritis
5. as a post-natal supplement.

Personally I use it as a preventive measure so it is something that I consume everyday, in different forms.  Making it as part of my daily normal essential diet has been key to enabling me to continue consuming it for the benefits without feeling bored, something which can easily occur if you are popping pills.  I treat it as a natural therapy and it assists my body in healing itself.

The second processed product is our new product: producing ginger powder.  The ginger is sliced and dehydrated using a dehydrator which allows me to ensure maximum retention of nutrients as well as prevention of contaminants such as dust, dirt or other types of contaminants.  This dehydration process reduces the ginger to approximately 10% of its fresh original weight.  What it means is if 1 kg of fresh ginger is dehydrated, the dehydrated ginger will weigh around 90-100g.
The dehydrated ginger is then ground to a powdered form.  The end product is really concentrated so you do not need to use much of it.  No additives or preservatives are added to it so it is pure ground ginger.  It can then be stored in an air-tight container in the cupboard or if you prefer, in the refrigerator.  This ground ginger can be used in many ways: used in cooking and marinating as well as in creating drinks like ginger tea or added to other teas to flavour it.  The dehydrated ginger will also be used to create our ground spice mixes such as with lemongrass and turmeric.