Gorgeous Galangal

It has taken us some time to establish our supply of Galangal (Lengkuas or Laos). We now have two stands of this delightful member of the ginger family.

Galangal is a tall, attractive plant, growing to one metre eighty in our garden. During the summer, it will produce interesting green and white flowers. It needs plenty of water while the heat of summer persists, and enjoys regular feeding with organic fertilisers.

After harvest, we slice and freeze our Galangal. The rhizome is very hard, so care needs to be taken when preparing the herb for cooking. We do not use Galangal as regularly as ginger. However, we use it in soup dishes: Tom Yum (Thai) and Soto (Indonesian), in some curry dishes and occasionally in stir-fries.

Its scientific name is Alpinia galanga.