Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

Clade: Tracheophytes

Clade: Angiosperms

Clade:                        Monocots

Clade:                        Commelinids

Order:                       Zingiberales

Family:                      Zingiberaceae

Genus:                       Kaempferia

Species:         K. galanga

Binomial name

Kaempferia galanga

L.

Kaempferia galanga is sometimes called lesser galangal and commonly known as aromatic ginger, sand ginger, kencur, cutcherry, or resurrection lily.  It belongs to the ginger family and one of the four plants in the galangal group. It is a monocotyledon plant found mainly in open areas of Indonesia, India, southern China, Taiwan, Cambodia, and widely cultivated throughout Southeast Asia.

Culinary and Medical Use

In Indonesia, Kaempferia galanga is used as a cooking herb. It is called kencur (’cekur’ in Malaysia), used as an ingredient especially in Javanese and Balinese cuisines. Beras kencur, the combination of dried K. galanga powder with rice flour, is a particularly popular jamu herbal drink. Its leaves are even also used in the Malay rice dish, nasi ulam.

Unlike the similar Boesenbergia rotunda (Thai krachai), K. galanga is not commonly used in Thai cuisine but can be bought as a dried rhizome or in powder form at herbal medicine stalls. It is known in Thai as proh horm or waan horm, and in Khmer as prâh or prâh krâ-oup. The Chinese use it in cooking and Chinese medicine and is sold in Chinese groceries under the name sha Jiang (Chinese:  pinyin: shajiang). The whole plant is referred to as shan nai (Chinese: pinyin: shannai). The Kaempferia galanga has a distinctive peppery camphorous taste.

Aroma attributes

·         Borneol 

·         1,8-Cineole

·         Ethyl cinnamate 

·         Ethyl p-methoxycinnamate 

·         Gamma-car-3-ene

·         Pentadecane

• Insect repellent
• Kaempferol
• Desi Sangye Gyatso
• Galangal
• Kaempferia rotunda

Extracts and essential oils

The plant rhizomes contain essential oils which are used in traditional Chinese medicine as a decoction or powder. The maceration of the rhizome in alcohol has also been applied as a liniment for rheumatism. The extract causes depression of the central nervous system, a decrease in motor activity, and a decrease in the respiratory rate.

The decoctions and the sap of the leaves may have hallucinogenic properties, which may be due to unidentified chemical components of the plant’s essential oil fraction.

A purified extract of K. galanga and polyester-8 stabilize the UV-absorptive properties of sunscreen combinations containing avobenzone. 

Insecticide

Extracts of the plant kill larvae of several species of mosquito including some that are disease vectors.  As a result of these findings, research is underway to evaluate the extracts of the plant as use as an insect repellent, with preliminary findings suggesting it is not an irritant to the skin of rats.

Chemical constituents

The rhizomes of aromatic ginger have been reported to contain cineol, borneol, 3-carene, camphene, kaempferol, kaempferide, cinnamaldehyde, p-methoxycinnamic acid, ethyl cinnamate, and ethyl p-methoxycinnamate

Next Chapter: Alpinia galanga