Zedoary ✦

Zédoaire

What it is

Medieval Europe bought it by the pound, and it runs through apothecary lists and cookbooks up to the sixteenth century before all but vanishing from European kitchens, while staying put in Indian pickles and Thai curry pastes. The cut flesh is white to pale yellow and smells of green mango, and that is where the bitterness sits.

In the kitchen

Slice it raw and thin into a pounded paste, and do not treat it as turmeric, which colours and sweetens where this one brings bitterness. A thumb-length piece is enough for a paste for six, and long cooking only concentrates it.

Goes with

Galangal Lemongrass Makrut lime leaf Fermented shrimp paste (belacan) Coconut milk Turmeric

Same species

Turmeric Turmeric leaf

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us