Galangal;Thai Ginger – Alpinia galanga

Plant family: Zingiberaceae

Plant origin: South East Asia.

Fruit description: The small red berry like fruit of the Galangal can be used in cooking.

Flowers: Galangal flowers are white and fragrant, occurring out of the ends of mature stems.

Growing conditions: Galangal is a hardy, perennial evergreen plant that grows to about 1.5 metres high. Galangal plants tolerate cold to tropical climates. Let your Galangal plants clump, and harvest the rhizomes as you need them. Gingers grow well in pots. It is a handsome plant used to give a tropical feel to a landscape.

Uses: Galangal is used in Asian cooking. Use the fleshy rhizome, grated or in slices that you can remove after cooking. You can also use the juice. It has a pungent warm aroma and an earthy spicy flavour. Galangal has a subtle aroma, it is used in Thai and Indonesian foods such as Rendang. The dried galangal ginger rhizome can be used to spice cakes, biscuits especially gingerbread, puddings, marinades. Use fresh or dried to make ginger beer, cordial, teas. Pickle the galangal rhizome in vinegar or sherry for storage. Galangal can be refrigerated or frozen.

Medicinal uses: Galangal is widely used in traditional medicines in many Asian cultures.

Pollination requirements: Self-Pollinating.

Harvest time You can harvest the edible fleshy rhizome or underground stem of galangal anytime but the new rhizomes with thin skin and mild flavour are harvested in Winter. You can also eat the young green shoots for a mild flavour. Galangal rhizomes are pinkish red.

Plant relatives Common Ginger;Cape York Lily;Red Torch Ginger;White Fragrant Ginger;Turmeric;Kencur;Katchai

Special features: In the ginger family there are about 20 species which are edible.

Grown by method: Root Division Pot size: 125mm

Plant growing Height and Width for pots or in the ground planting: Grows to 1 metres high by 1 metres wide if Planted in a Pot. Grows 1.5 metres high by 1.5 metres wide if Planted in the Ground.

Shipping plant pot or planter bag size: 125mm