Galangal, the ginger of Gao Liang
Gao Liang Jiang reads “ginger of Gao Liang”: the name takes the form of an address, that of the ancient commandery of Gao Liang, in the west of present-day Guangdong, where the plant came from. The European word “galangal” itself comes from the Arabic transcription of this Chinese name: brought to Europe by Arab merchants around the 9th century, galangal was a costly spice in the Middle Ages, said to smell of roses. It is the rhizome of a plant of the ginger family, reddish-brown, fibrous and sharply pungent; its reference terroir is Guangdong, particularly the Leizhou peninsula, and Hainan.
Warming the Middle, expelling Cold
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, galangal is hot and pungent in flavour: a single flavour, and one of the highest temperatures on the scale. It enters only the Spleen and Stomach, the Middle Burner of digestion, and its concision makes for precision. Tradition holds that the Stomach needs warmth to “cook and ripen” food; when Cold lodges there, it contracts and congeals, and everything comes to a halt. The hot pungency of galangal expels it and restores the passage of Qi when cold tightens the belly. Tradition adds moving the Qi and aiding digestion.
Restoring the Stomach’s movement
When Cold stops the Stomach Qi from going downwards, this Qi turns back the wrong way; by warming, galangal restores its natural direction. The classics set it apart from dried ginger in a single sentence: dried ginger excels at removing Cold from within, galangal at expelling Cold that has just entered the Stomach. With cyperus, it forms Liang Fu Wan, two plants and not one more, for Cold and knotted Qi taken together. Not to be confused with greater galangal, larger, paler and much milder.
Key benefits
Harmonised Stomach & Descending Qi
By warming, galangal harmonises the Stomach and restores its natural downward movement.
Easy Digestion & Well-ripened Meals
Tradition credits it with aiding digestion: it contributes to good digestion when the cold slows everything down.
Warmth & Cold Dispersed
Pungent and hot, it warms the body through the Middle and disperses Cold that has just set in.
