Ginger is one of the oldest and most important spices used in different kinds of food preparation. Ginger possesses a warm pungent taste and a pleasant odor, hence it has a wide use as a flavoring in numerous food preparation, beverages, ginger bread, soups, pickles and many soft drinks. There are two general types of ginger viz. fresh green ginger used for the preparation of candied ginger (in sugar syrup) and dried or cured ginger applied in the spice trade, for extracts, oleoresins and for the distillation of its volatile oil. The main application of the ginger oil is in confectionery, beverages, and baked products. An instant beverage powder with non-polymer catechins contained at high concentration has improved flavor and taste owing to reductions in bitterness and astringency, and also provides improved flavor and taste and improved stability in external appearance after reconstituted into a beverage. The instant beverage powder contains the following ingredients (A) and (B): (A) from 0.5 to 20.0 wt % of a purified product of green ginger extract powder. Instant Ginger Drink with Creamer made from fresh young roots, peeled and sliced, cooked in heavy sugar syrup, and then air dried. After the process, it mixed with creamer for taste variant. The instant ginger powder in the present is comprised of a powdery concentrate composition containing non-polymer catechins, and is taken as a reconstituted beverage by dissolving it in a liquid such as deionized water or hot water. The instant beverage powder of the present may desirably be taken as a reconstituted beverage containing from 0.01 to 0.5 wt % of non-polymer catechins. the content of non-polymer catechins in the instant beverage powder is set at from 0.5 to 15.0 wt % in the present invention, but may be set preferably at from 0.5 to 12.0 wt %, more preferably at from 0.6 to 10.0 wt %, even more preferably at from 0.6 to 5.0 wt %. The setting of the content of non-polymer catechins within the above-described range makes it possible to readily digest a large amount of non-polymer catechins, and moreover, to expect the physiological effects of non-polymer catechins. The term "non-polymer catechins" as used herein is a generic term, which collectively encompasses non-epi-form catechins such as catechin, gallocatechin, catechin gallate and gallocatechin gallate, and epi-form catechins such as epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate and epigallocatechin gallate. The concentration of non-polymer catechins is defined based on the total amount of the above-described eight non-polymer catechins. The purified product is next granulated into a powder. The granulation may be conducted by either a dry method or a wet method, but for obtaining a particle size suited for dissolution in water or another drinking medium, wet granulation that granulates by using the adhesive force of water or a binder is preferred. Examples of preferred granulation methods include spray-drying granulation, freeze-drying granulation, fluidized bed granulation and tumbling granulation. The granulation can be conducted by using two or more of these granulation methods in combination. The instant drinks are available in a range of flavours: Orange, Raspberry, Cherry, Kiwi, Mango, Cola, Peach, Tropic, sprite, Apple, Apricot, Fruit Punch, Grape, Strawberry, Lemon, Pineapple, Ice tea Lemon, Ice tea Apple and Ice tea Peach. The demand of ginger based beverage will ever increasing due to its health benefits. It has good export, global and domestic demand. There is good scope for new entrepreneurs.
