Greater Galangal, Thai ginger , Blue Ginger
Greater Galangal,
a cousin of our spicy friend Ginger. It looks like ginger but doesn't taste or feel like it.
Also known as the Thai ginger or Blue Ginger.
Alpinia galanga a native of South East Asia is a herbaceous perennial with strikingly long lanceolate leaves, that are about 10 cm wide and 50 cm long.
The fleshy yellowish white flowers are borne in a raceme inflorescence and are edible. The leaves and flowers are cooked as a vegetable in Asian cuisine.
The edible fruits are globular green capsules that turn orange red and then black as they mature.
The rhizome of Greater Galangal resembles the common young ginger but is much paler, smoother and harder than it. It cannot be grated like ginger and needs to be sliced.
It is used as a spice with digestive benefits, to flavour many Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian dishes. It has a sharp, citrusy flavour unlike ginger that is pungently spicy.
It is also used in traditional medicine as a treatment for coughs, cold and rheumatism.
In Ayurveda it is considered as a Vata Shaman drug. This form of ginger is used with licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra), as folk medicine for colds and sore throats.
Another species Alpinia officinarum, is known as lesser galangal has reddish white flowers and the rhizome is known to have a smell of roses.
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