Plant · P-634

Galangal

Alpinia galanga

Galangal is one of the most completely edible plants in its family - the pungent rhizome, something between pepper and ginger, is the main crop, but the flowers, young shoots, flower buds and even the fruit are all eaten too. Its essential oil flavours liqueurs such as Chartreuse and Angostura bitters. It is a genuinely tropical plant with a hard floor around 59 F (15 C), so anywhere winter approaches frost it has to be grown in a container or under cover rather than in the ground. Left undisturbed it spreads rampantly by rhizome into a widening clump, so harvesting the crop is what keeps it in bounds - it is best given a bed with a hard edge, or grown where a spreading mat under a canopy is exactly what is wanted.