Any tips on growing ginger and galangal?

[hoodat]

I do quite a bit of Oriental cooking and the recipes are always calling for ginger or, in the case of Southeast Asia recipes, galangal.
I'd like to try growing my own. Any tips from gardeners with experience with them?

 

[jojo54]

I sprouted ginger from the store. I read some place that you put it in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag on top of your aquarium so it has moisture and warmth. I had alot of it and only three pieces sprouted, the rest rotted. I planted them and have some plants started - three to four leaves each. That's as far as I know. I don't know if you can dig out part of the root or not. Time will tell.

Here are a couple of pics of two of the plants.

 

[patandchickens]

Man, I'd LOVE to have some rootable sections of galangal. All I ever see, though, when I can find it at all which isn't often, is teeny hacked-up little pieces. I suppose the oriental groceries may have larger pieces sometimes, though, perhaps I need to stop more often -- I never even THOUGHT of growing galangal til you posted this.

Ginger I've never had much luck putting meaningful root growth on as a potted plant (it's an easy houseplant though) -- but there are many on this forum who say they've done well with it outdoors, in moist sandy soil in a warm-to-hot climate.

Wow, thanks for the idea about growing galangal... now when I take the kids to the zoo I'm going to have to start driving home the long way, via Markham, to stop at the chinese supermarkets there, just in case...!


Pat, who really has quite a difficult time finding galangal (yes, even here near Toronto) but *loves* a number of dishes in which it is essential

 

[lesa]

Okay, I love ginger-but I have no idea what galangal is? What does it taste like???

 

[patandchickens]

It is closely related to ginger but is sort of, I don't know, different. There are various Southeast Asian dishes that require it (Thai, Laotian, Malaysian, etc) and they really are *not at all* the same tasting with just ginger. Tom Yum soup for example is just not the same without it.

I have noooooo clue about the plant, but presume it grows like regular ginger.

Pat

 

[beavis]

Here's what it says about galangal from one of my favorite book "Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit: An Illustrated Encyclopedia" by Biggs.

The word galangal came from the Chinese meaning a mild ginger from Ko, a region of the Canton (now Ghuangzhou) province.

The plant is an herbaceous perennial, with rhizomes.

Stems grow to 6 feet tall with dark-green lance-shaped leaves.

Looks like you can grow it from either rhizome or seed.

Galangal grows in subtropical zones, needs full sun to partial shade. Very rich soil and high humidity. Plants can be grow in a container.

Rhizomes are ready to harvest after 3-4 years (yikes).

 

[hoodat]

Sounds as though San Diego has ideal conditions for it. I'l have to give it a try. Surely with all the Southeast Asians that live here it must be available somewhere.

 

[beavis]

Sounds as though San Diego has ideal conditions for it. I'l have to give it a try. Surely with all the Southeast Asians that live here it must be available somewhere.

Ideal, except for the humidity factor. Probably would need lots of supplemental misting.

Hoodat, not sure where you are located in San Diego, but the Mira Mesa area would be a good place to start at the local Asian markets there.

 

[hoodat]

I don't think humidity would be that much of a problem for me. I'm on Otay Mesa just above Imperial Beach so we get a fair amount of humidity from the ocean. Breezes blow in from the West almost every evening when we don't have a Santa Ana going on.

 

[beavis]

Yep, Otay Mesa would be perfect for that plant!