One thing we’re not short of here is ginger. We get all sorts. Young ginger, regular ginger, old ginger. We get sand ginger which isn’t ginger but related. It is kaempferia galanga, a type of galangal. What is rare is ginger powder but I can find it in a few bakery supply stores and it’s imported. I scream when I see recipes on the internet for “Chinese” dishes claiming ground ginger is an essential ingredient in “authentic” Chinese cuisine.
Anyway, today I found a variation on the theme. 带泥嫩姜 (dài ní nèn jiāng), muddy ginger. This is what it says. The third character indicates that it is tender, which I take to mean it’s young ginger. They just haven’t washed it, presumably to prove it’s fresh, which of course it doesn’t. Bizarre.
