Tangerine Travels: Ginger, Galanga, and Turmeric: Rhizome Relatives

Ahhh...ginger, funny looking rhizome, how you tickle my tastebuds! Asians knew you in prehistoric times, and introduced your dried form to the classical Greeks. Medieval Europeans made gingerbread from you. English tavern-goers of the 19th century used you to flavor their beer and ale. Personally, I know that I will like a food when I see your name as an ingredient!

Ginger comes from the rhizomes of Zingiber officianale. To make the powdered form the starchy tubers, like the one on the right, are cleaned and dried. Sometimes they are bleached or treated with lime, then ground.

The pungency of members of the ginger family comes from compounds called gingerols, which are chemically related to capsaicin in chillies and piperine in pepper.

Gingerols are easily modified by drying and cooking. Drying converts the gingerols to shogoals which are much more pungent. Therefore, dried ginger is more pungent than fresh ginger.

Cooking converts the gingerols and shogoals into zingerone, which is less pungent and creates a sweet-spicy aroma.

The galangal or galanga is a relative of ginger and is common in the cuisine of Southeast Asia. One of the rhizomes of the galanga, Alpinia galanga, is shown on the left. Harold McGee, in his book On Food and Cooking says that the galanga is "more austere than ginger, pungent and with overtones of eucalyptus, pine, clove, and camphor, but none of ginger's lemony character." I'm not sure that I would describe it as austere, but it seems to have overtones of mustard to my palate. McGee points out that lemongrass is often added with galanga to provide the citrus tones.

Galanga is considered to be a digestive stimulant. Some people in medieval times used the galanga to ward off evil and to increase virility.

Turmeric, Curcuma longa, is another plant in the ginger family with rhizomes that are prized for cooking.Turmeric was probably domesticated in prehistoric India for its deep yellow pigment.

In the modern-day United States, turmeric provides the color for commercially sold mustard.

Turmeric has great antioxidant properties and is used as a natural preservative in India.

Turmeric is usually steamed or boiled in alkaline water and sun-dried. It is then ground and sold, although sometimes the fresh rhizomes, such as those in the picture can be found in specialty markets.

The picture below shows the turmeric and galanga rhizomes together for you to compare their appearance.