For years I've been using either fresh ginger or powdered ginger. One of the main uses has been to add some to a cup of whole milk in the morning -- along with ground green cardamon and powdered cinnamon -- before boiling it.
Well, I was out of ginger the other day and wasn't close to the store where I normally buy my powdered ginger, so I bought some at Sprouts which sells a wide assortment of spices in any quantity you want (bulk). When I used this supply from the new source, I noticed immediately that the ginger smelled like...ginger ale! And I mean exactly like it! It got me wondering: how come the ginger I've been using up to now hasn't? Which is the more genuine ginger? Isn't it ironic that the smell of a processed food -- ginger ale -- has become, for me, the measuring rod for whether a "pure" food -- ginger, whether in powdered or root form -- is the genuine article? That is, "ginger ale smell" is what I automatically think of as genuine ginger! The default position has become that the processed smell is automatically assumed to be the real deal!
