psychoactive Alpinia Officinarum tea

[ENtiTY]

Out shopping today and found some fresh Galangal

Any idea which Alpinia it is?

[gecko]

Harry that looks to me like Alpinia galanga.

its the one found as fresh rhizome in shops in Aust.

this is refered to in English as greater galangal or just simply galangal

'Kha' in Thai

'Laos' in Java

'Lawas' in Bali

'Lenkuas' or 'Lenguas' in Malaysia

very commonly used in S.E asian cooking

Galangal was a very popular spice in medieval Europe via the Arab spice traders but its popularity seemed

to wane around the 1500's to the point that it wasn't used any more apart from the

odd medicine or liquer recipe. (galangal is one of the main flavouring ingredients of Campari)

The galangal used in Europe belonged to two or more different species of plants.

A.galanga - Greater Galangal , its origin Indochina-Indonesia

and A.officinarium - Lesser Galangal ,from China were the main ones for sure.

I've not seen A.officinarium plants in Australia (and I've been on the lookout for the past 16 years or so).

Most books I've seen published in the past three decades refer to another plant as 'Lesser Galangal' which

has caused much confusion.

Kaempferia galanga unlike the two Alpinia spp. mentioned, this plant grows with its leaves

pressed down flat on the ground and pushes up a sucsession of violet marked white flowers also at ground level.

It sheds all it's leaves every year at the onset of the dry season, retreating to the the small rhizomes just

under the soil surface.

I dont like to refer to this plant as a galangal at all because its flavour and use in cooking is quite different

to that of galangal. the only relationship it has to galangal is its unfortunately confusing name (and of course

that its a member of the same botanical family).

I guess another reason for the mix up is that the source of A.officinarium is largely in china and so wasn't

seen as much outside of china and more likely to be forgotten about.

Kaempferia galanga is a very popular spice in Indonesia where it is known as 'kencur' or as 'cikur' in Sundanese.

It's almost always used in sate sauce recipes.

Also used with palm sugar,roasted ground rice, tamarind and I can't remember what else,

for a favorite herbal hot drink called 'Beras Kencur'.

A friend of mine who goes to Indo a lot says that smoking weed after a drink of Beras Kencur

gives a very different sensation than without the drink...more trippy, very enjoyable.

I used to buy Beras Kencur instant. 8 or 10 sachets in little orange boxes in Asian grocer

shops but I haven't seen it for bout 8 years now. Cant remember the brand, but its the same company

that makes 'Jahe Wangi' -an instant ginger drink.

K. galanga only seems to me to be used in Thailand as a medicinal plant.

I think the Thai name for it is 'Pro Hom'.

It's definately not to be confused with Boesenbergia pandurata ,Kra-chai (Thai) also a deciduous Zingiberaceous spice plant

but growing to 20-40cm high

The swolen roots as well as the rhizome are used in Thai curries

especially Gaeng Som Pla- sour fish curry.

B. pandurata is known in Indonesia as 'Temu Kunci'

The only place i've seen A. officinarium plant up close was at Peradeniya Botanical Gardens

just out of Kandy in Sri Lanka. It was in flower at the time and i couldnt find any seeds.

I have seen dried rhizomes of A. officinarium in Asian grocer shops.

[ENtiTY]

Bugger!

Oh well, will plant it at any rate. I love stir fry

[gecko]

There seems to be a bit of variation in rhizome skin colour

in A.galanga that i've seen over the years.

ranging from almost pure white through pale pink to dark red.

It could be due to edaphic factors- soil type, fertility,watering etc.

but i suspect there are may be several clones around.

A.galanga readily sets seed if let go as a big clump.

they seem well formed and viable but i've never bothered with

germinating them cos its so easy to grow from divisions

[dundee]

was searching this site for info on this plant, and couldn't find much, thought I would update this thread with some info I found

importing alpinia officinarum into Australia: http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_casecontent.asp?intNodeId=8905773&intCommodityId=27379&Types=none&WhichQuery=Go+to+full+text&intSearch=1&LogSessionID=0

found an aussie ebay seller of dried root: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Galangal-Root-25g-Herb-Pack-Alpinia-officinarum-Herbs-/310335782760?pt=AU_LM_Metaphysical&hash=item4841743f68

aussie seller of live plant: http://www.greenpatchseeds.com.au/barerooted.html

[amanito]

What about an extract, looks easier to ingest or is this one of these things you should consume fresh?

Could you be a little bit more specific about the experience?

I only drunk a tea when I was around 18, couldn't finish it, I hated the taste ...

[dundee]

What about an extract, looks easier to ingest or is this one of these things you should consume fresh?

Could you be a little bit more specific about the experience?

I only drunk a tea when I was around 18, couldn't finish it, I hated the taste ...

 

I have seen extracts for sale in my search tonight, I personally haven't tried this plant but am very interested to find out more about it, hopefully someone on here can help me out.

There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether what some people are selling is actually alpinia officinarum or some other ginger, too many names and also the galanga vs galangal, lesser galangal etc, guess I might just order some and give it a try, probably brew a tea with the dry stuff, I like ginger so I guess the taste should be ok with me

[kadakuda]

There are also Alpinia species, quite commercial to boot, usd for other things that very well could be sold as such. In chinese culture the leaves are common for wrapping rice dumplings.

[gecko]

http://www.greenpatchseeds.com.au/barerooted.html

I'll be very surprised if it is A.officinarium

In fact I'm sure that it will be A.galanga.

They'll have mis-labelled it and/or believe that both names apply to the one species.

authors of some books have it stuffed up when they just republish the mistakes of others... and the confusion continues.

nursery industry is notorious for perpetuating incorect names of many plants.

Edited December 24, 2011 by gecko

[dundee]

http://www.greenpatc...barerooted.html

I'll be very surprised if it is A.officinarium

In fact I'm sure that it will be A.galanga.

They'll have mis-labelled it and/or believe that both names apply to the one species.

authors of some books have it stuffed up when they just republish the mistakes of others... and the confusion continues.

nursery industry is notorious for perpetuating incorect names of many plants.

 

I received a plant off them, so will give it time to grow, it appears to be A. Officinarum tho, I also found another supplier and have a plant on order, will receive it in january next year.

The funny thing is I was out today and stopped in at a local fruit and veg shop, found some galangal root hidden away, it wasn't labelled, but I took it up to the counter and the guy said that yeah its galangal, took it home and brewed up a weak tea, definitely a ginger taste with a strong pepper taste that follows, quite strong tasting stuff

[dundee]

Actually I think your right gecko, the more I read about galangal the more I'm getting confused about it, too many people calling it all types of different names and using different photos and sketches, thinking a. galanga for that plant from greenpatches, well will continue to grow what I have, still have one plant coming *fingers crossed*

http://www.thaifooda...s/gkrachai.html the rhizome at this link seems to be the odd one out, out of all the ones I have looked at, is this alpinia officinarum?

edit: the one thing I did find interesting was that apparently a. officinarum was the plant of choice for aleister crowley....so the story goes

Edited December 25, 2011 by dundee

[Stillman]

I have a massive clump of galangal in the back yard which was given to me by a local gardener. its just goes nuts in my climate. I wouldn't know which species though, I assume it is the more common. Its in flower now so I might take afew pics of the flowers and dig up a rhizome so someone can ID it over the next few days. We just use it for cooking in place of ginger, the fresh roots are really moist and hot as in flavour.

[Stillman]

Heres my clump of galangal

[Moses]

allrareherbs sells the red as the greater galangal and the white as officinarum which is totally contradicting this thread so do we know for sure which is which?

[dundee]

Cool pics Stillman, your plant is going strong, would be keen to see a pic of the rhizomes as well

Hey moses, yeah allrareherbs have some plant as well, I still can't figure out which is what, I've decided to talk with a guy from china to try and figure it out

[Stillman]

my rhizomes are a white pink colour and hot as hell quiet bitter too dug a couple up to take pics but the memory card in the camera has failed so will try and get a pic up in a few days.

[gecko]

Stllman your plant in the pic is definitely A.galanga.

A.officinarium doesn't grow as tall and it has fewer flowers per inflorescence.

I'd be very surprised ( but excited and happy) if ARHerbs has A.officinarium.

[Stillman]

I figured as much we have just used it in cooking, I was going to pickle a heap for sushi and sashimi might be good in a green tea as well I guess. There must be a few kilo or rhizomes there and it grows so fast over summer.

[opiumfreak]

YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS Ginger is DEFINATELY psychoactive IM HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kadakuda]

when you are done, please explain. im intrigued

[klip247]

So is A.galanga inactive or something? What makes A.officinarium so special?

[Roopey]

I got A. Offic from AllRare a little while ago and stuck it in the veggie patch in hopes that it is actually the right one. I will let you guys know what I find out from the plant.