Zingiber mioga Dancing Crane

Zingiber mioga 'Dancing Crane' is a very beautiful form of Japanese ginger with variegated cream-white foliage, even more decorative than the type, and just as easy to grow in the garden under our climate. This perennial plant is both highly ornamental with its lush foliage and unique with its tender yellow flowers that emerge at the base of the stems in summer. It is also useful in cooking to flavour Asian dishes. In Japan, the unopened flower buds are most often consumed. They have a flavour similar to that of medicinal ginger without the spicy note. Its rhizomes and young shoots are also edible. This ginger is hardy down to -15°C (5°F) with protective mulch. It is grown in partial shade, both in the ground and in pots.

'Dancing Crane' is a Japanese selection from the Gotemba nursery. The wild, non-variegated form is native to the moist valleys of southern China to central Japan. Zingiber mioga 'Dancing Crane' is a rhizomatous perennial plant belonging to the Zingiberaceae family. Its annual vegetation typically emerges from the ground in April and disappears in late autumn. The underground rhizome produces thin stems each year, bearing long, lanceolate leaves of a light and vibrant green, variegated with white to cream, somewhat reminiscent of those of aspidistra. They reach a length of 20 to 40cm (8 to 16in), with a width of 4 to 6cm (2in). The clump expands year after year, reaching 50 to 60cm (20 to 24in) in all directions. This ginger is a remarkable aromatic plant. Its inflorescences appear in summer, at ground level. They are ellipsoid in shape and measure 5 to 7cm (2 to 3in). The flowers emerge from scaly, elongated, pointed buds that open one after the other, between each scale. They are small (2 to 3cm (1in)), tubular, and a very pale-yellow. The foliage emits a subtle scent, noticeable when crushed. All parts of the plant are edible, but the flower buds are mainly used in traditional Japanese cuisine.

Zingiber mioga 'Dancing Crane' is ideal for adding an exotic, vibrant, and lush touch to the garden. Planted in partial shade, along with hedychiums and colocasia, the effect will be truly enchanting! It can also be placed in a large pot, or even in the vegetable garden alongside aromatic plants, but in a semi-shaded area with consistently moist soil.

In cooking, the flower buds are used as a condiment to enhance the flavour of dishes. They are harvested from July to September, as they appear. The inflorescences are finely sliced and added to the dish at the end of cooking, to preserve their delicate aroma. It is also possible to blanch these buds like salads. As soon as they appear, cover them with a 5cm (2in) layer of sifted soil. Harvest them after 8 to 10 days. Zingiber mioga is also widely used in Asian pharmacopoeia.