Common name: Galangal

This member of the ginger family is believed to originate from the grasslands of southern China and Southeast Asia, but is now widely cultivated throughout the rest of tropical Asia, mainly Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand as well as India.

Use: In Thailand where it is actually favoured over ginger as an ingredient in Thai curry pastes.

There are several species of galangal, but the two type most commonly grown are greater galangal (Alpinia galangal), or simply galangal and lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum), which is treated as a separate species.

Galanagal is cultivated mainly as a spice and lesser galangal for medicinal use, particularly in China. An erect perennial herb, galangal is similar in appearance to the more widely known ginger plant (Zingiber officinale) and like ginger is cultivated for its rhizomes. The plant grows to a height of around 2 meters, which helps to distinguish it from lesser galangal, which only grows to a height of about 1 meter. Leaves are long, oval, attractive, lush, mid-green in colour and smooth. They are usually about 30 to 40 cm long and 10 cm wide, which again helps to distinguishes it for lesser galangal which has smaller leaves, around 25 cm long and not as wide. Flowers are small, cream to greenish-white with red stripes around the edge of the petals and are borne loosely arranged on upright spikes at the top of tall flower stems. Fruit are small, roundish, contain up to 6 seed and have an aroma similar to the rhizome when crushed. Rhizomes are similar in appearance to ginger, but smaller. They are about 2 to 4 cm in diameter with pronounced, concentric rings along the length, glossy light red or pale yellow in colour and juicy when fresh. Peeled rhizomes flesh is white with a pinkish hue. Unlike ginger, galangal is firm and difficult to break off in pieces Galangal is moderately invasive, spreading by its rhizomes it can overrun areas of a garden if not controlled. Barriers [Edit]