Galangal (Lengkuas)

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Lengkuas

Basic Information: 

Alpinia galanga,^[1] a plant in the ginger family, bears a rhizome used as an herb in Southeast Asian cookery. It is one of four plants known as “galangal“, and is differentiated from the others with the common names lengkuas, greater galangal, and blue ginger.

The name “galangal” is probably derived from Persian qulanjan or Arabic khalanjan, which in turn may be an adaptation of Chinese gao liang jiang. Its names in India is derived from the same root, including kulanja in Sanskrit, kulanjan in Hindi, and kholinjan in Urdu.^[2]

The name “lengkuas”, on the other hand, is derived from Malay lengkuas, which is derived from Proto-Western Malayo-Polynesian *laŋkuas, with cognates including Ilokano langkuás; Tagalog, Bikol, Kapampangan, Visayan, and Manobo langkáuas or langkáwas; Aklanon eangkawás; Kadazan Dusun hongkuas; Ida’an lengkuas; Ngaju Dayak langkuas; and Iban engkuas. Some of the names have become generalized and are also applied to other species of Alpinia as well as for Curcuma zedoaria.^[3]

Alpinia galanga is also called laos Javanese and laja in Sundanese. Other names include romdeng (រំដេង) in Cambodia; pa de kaw (ပတဲကော) in Myanmar; kha in Thailand; nankyo in Japan; and hong dou kou in Mandarin Chinese.^[4] In Tamil it is known as a “பேரரத்தை or பெரியரத்தை” (“Pae-reeya-ra-thai), widely used in Siddha Medicine and in culinaries.

Nutrition, Traditional Use and Research

The statements below describe nutrition facts, traditional use and published research. They are not health claims for our products.

• Galangal (Alpinia galanga, lengkuas, halas in Batak) is a widely used spice in Indonesian cooking, for example in soups and curries, and it is also used in traditional folk practice.
• Galangal contains antioxidant compounds such as galangin and a small amount of vitamin C. Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system. In laboratory tests, galangal compounds show antioxidant activity.
• Laboratory and animal studies have examined galangal compounds in relation to cancer cells, inflammation, brain cells (including beta-amyloid deposits) and sperm production. These are early findings from cell and animal studies. No health effect in people can be concluded from them, and galangal is not a means to prevent or treat any disease.
• In traditional folk practice in Southeast Asia, galangal is used for digestive complaints and general well-being. These are traditional uses only.

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