Gourt Home::Gourt :: Galangal
Galangal (Thai: ข่า, Malay lengkuas, Mandarin 高良薑(Traditional)/高良姜(Simplified), Cantonese lam keong, also known as blue ginger or Thai Ginger), is a rhizome with culinary and medicinal uses, best known in the west today for its appearance in Thai cuisine (e.g., tom kha gai) but also common in recipes from medieval Europe. It resembles ginger in appearance. However, it tastes little like ginger; in it's raw form, it has a soapy, earthy aroma and a pine-like flavor with a faint hint of citrus. It is available as a powder from vendors of Oriental spices and also available in whole, cut or powdered from vendors of herbs. Also known as galingale, kencur, or laos (its Indonesian name). Coincidentally, it is one of the most prominent herbs in Lao cuisine. A mixture of galangal and lime juice is used as a tonic in parts of Southeast Asia. Medicinally, it has the effect of an aphrodisiac, and acts as a stimulant.
The word galangal, or its variant galanga is used as a common name for all members of the genus Alpinia, but in common usage can refer to four plants, all in the Zingiberaceae:
- Alpinia galanga or greater galangal
- Alpinia officinarum or lesser galangal
- Kaempferia galanga, also called lesser galangal or sand ginger
- Boesenbergia pandurata, also called Chinese ginger or fingerroot
A. galanga is also known as Chewing John, Little John Chew and galanga root. Under these names, it is used in folk medicine and in voodoo charms (see John the Conqueror for related lore).
External links
- Alpinia officinarum (Galangal) King's American Dispensatory @ Henriette's Herbal
- Galangal (Alpinia officinarum) Mrs. Grieve's "A Modern Herbal" @ Botanical.com
- Galangal (Alpinia galanga) Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages
"Galangal"