Ginger Cultivation

Ginger Harvesting and Post-Harvest Operations

In about eight to ten months depending upon the maturity of the variety, the ginger crop is ready to harvest. When fully mature leaves turn yellow and start drying up gradually.

Clumps are lifted carefully with a spade or digging fork and rhizomes are separated from dried leaves, roots and adhering soil. With varieties ranging from 15 to 25 tonnes, the average yield of fresh ginger per hectare varies.

Harvesting is done from the 6th month onwards for making vegetable ginger. The rhizomes are thoroughly washed in water twice or thrice after harvest and sun-dried for a day.

Steps for Preparing Dry Ginger:
For preparing dry ginger
1. The produce is kept soaked in water overnight.
2. To clean Rhizomes, rubbed them well.
3. After cleaning, rhizomes are removed from the water
4. The outer skin is removed with a bamboo splinter or wooden knife having pointed ends. Iron knife is not recommended, as colour will be faded.
5. In order to get rid of the last bit of the skin or dirt, the dry rhizomes are rubbed together.
6. The peeled rhizomes are washed and dried in the sun uniformly for one week.
7. Rhizomes are to be dried to a moisture level of 11 %.
8. Then they are stored properly to avoid infestation by storage pests.

Storage of dry ginger for longer periods is not desirable. The yield of dry ginger is 16-25% of the fresh ginger depending upon the variety and location where the crop is grown. Burning of sulphur for processing ginger is not allowed.

Source: http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/