Sand Ginger

Sand ginger is a low herb of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, rarely more than 15 cm tall. It usually has two or three broad, almost round leaves that lie flat on the ground, without stalks. White flowers with a violet blotch rise from the centre of the plant.

The part we cook with grows underground: small, round rhizomes, 2–3.5 cm across, often linked in short chains. Their skin is reddish brown and their flesh nearly white, with a camphor-like smell.

In the dry season the leaves die back and the rhizomes rest in the soil. With the first rains, new leaves appear.

Five plants, one muddle

Sand ginger is often sold as “lesser galangal” — a name that belongs to Alpinia officinarum from southern China. It is not the galangal of Thai cooking either: that is Alpinia galanga, Thai kha. Its close relative is black ginger, Kaempferia parviflora, Thai krachai dam, from the same genus. And it is not fingerroot, Boesenbergia rotunda, Thai krachai, although some databases even give sand ginger that Thai name. The Latin name is the only safe label.

How sand ginger is used

Young leaves

Picked at the start of the rains and eaten as a vegetable: raw with chilli dips, blanched, or stir-fried.

Fresh rhizome

Grated or pounded into spice pastes, sambals and peanut sauces in Java and Bali.

Curry pastes

Pounded with chillies and other herbs as a base for Thai curries and chilli pastes.

Dried slices

Sold in Thai herb shops and always used dried in Chinese cooking — for broths and spice blends.

Fish and meat

Added to marinades and curries to take away strong fishy smells.

Dried and ground

Sliced, dried and milled — easy to measure and ready all year round.

Did you know?

Each sand ginger flower lasts a single day. The flowers grow in small clusters of four to twelve and open in daylight.

Sand ginger in Thailand

In Thai it is เปราะหอม (pro hom), and in the North also ว่านหอม (wan hom). It grows in all parts of the country and is a common plant of home gardens, where both its leaves and its rhizomes are used.

Sand ginger has never been a famous spice of world trade. Its story is told in old herbals, in Thai cookbooks and in the drinks sold on the streets of Java.

16th century

In a Chinese herbal

The great Ming-dynasty materia medica, the Bencao Gangmu, records shān nài. In China the dried rhizome is still used as a spice.

17th century

King Narai’s remedies

One of the oldest Thai herbal texts, the King Narai Remedies, uses two Kaempferia rhizomes in its recipes. Pro hom is described as pungent and bitter.

1753

Named after a traveller

Linnaeus described Kaempferia galanga as the type of a new genus, named after Engelbert Kaempfer — a German physician who in 1690 spent a month in Ayutthaya on his way to Japan.

Early 1900s

In Thai cookbooks

Mae Krua Hua Pa, Thailand’s first cookbook, adds pro hom leaves to the herbs of a curry. A recipe book of 1933 asks for more pro hom than galangal in one curry paste.

2023

Jamu, world heritage

UNESCO added Indonesia’s jamu wellness culture — traditional herbal drinks — to its list of intangible cultural heritage. Kencur is the key ingredient of beras kencur, one of the best-known jamu drinks.

Place and food culture

In Java and Bali, kencur is an everyday kitchen spice. It flavours the peanut sauces of pecel and gado-gado and the Sundanese salad karedok. In Bandung, the spicy street snack seblak is unthinkable without it — Sundanese cooks call it cikur.

In Thailand, pro hom goes into curry and chilli pastes, while in China the dried rhizome seasons broths and spice blends and is a favourite with chicken.

The Green Botanica view

Sand ginger often hides behind other names — “lesser galangal”, “aromatic ginger”, even plain “ginger”. We call it by its own name and its Latin name, so you know exactly which plant you are cooking with.

Sand ginger is grown across South and Southeast Asia, in home gardens and small fields, often in light shade. It is planted from pieces of rhizome and dug when its leaves start to dry. Indonesia, the largest producer with published figures, harvested about 48 million kilograms in 2023, a third of it in West Java.

From rain to rhizome

First rains

New leaves

The rhizomes wake and send up their flat, round leaves — the moment for leaf harvest.

Late rainy season

Flowers

White, violet-lipped flowers appear, often in August and September.

6–7 months

Harvest

When the leaves start to dry, the small rhizomes are dug.

After harvest

Slicing and drying

The rhizomes are washed, cut into even slices and dried, usually in the sun for a few days. Dried slices are brown at the edge and white in the middle. In Indian trials, about four kilograms of fresh rhizome gave one kilogram of dried slices.

What to look for

A pale cream to light beige colour, not dull brown

A sweet, balsamic and camphor-cool smell when you open the pouch

A gentle warmth with a faint, dry bitterness

No musty, damp or burnt smell

A dry powder that pours freely, without lumps

The Thai standard

The Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia sets out what good dried pro hom should be: at least 4 % essential oil and no more than 11 % water. It asks for it to be kept in well-closed containers, protected from light, in a cool, dry place.

The rhizome holds about 2.5–4 % essential oil. Two related compounds lead it: ethyl p-methoxycinnamate and ethyl cinnamate. Their share varies widely: in published analyses the first makes up 28–70 % of the oil and the second 12–27 %, and in one Thai sample the two were almost equal. Smaller amounts of other compounds add the cool, camphor-like edge.

Ethyl p-methoxycinnamate

The largest part of the oil, and the compound Thai pharmacopoeia tests look for. Its own smell is faint.

Ethyl cinnamate

Fruity and balsamic, a cousin of the scent of cinnamon bark. Smaller in amount, but the key to the aroma.

Methyl cinnamate

Another fruity, balsamic cinnamate that rounds out the sweet side.

Borneol

Woody and camphor-like — part of the cool edge.

1,8-Cineole

Only a little, but enough for a hint of eucalyptus.

Pentadecane

A waxy hydrocarbon. A large share of the oil, yet almost no smell.

Aroma descriptions follow published analyses and aroma references; proportions vary widely between samples, places and methods.

The biggest is not the strongest

Big but quiet

Ethyl p-methoxycinnamate fills most of the oil, but adds surprisingly little to what you smell.

Small but loud

Ethyl cinnamate, present in smaller amounts, carries the fruity, balsamic note that makes sand ginger recognisable.

One small group

The difference is a single methoxy group. Japanese aroma chemists found that it weakens and changes the smell of these cinnamates.

Fresh and dried

In Southeast Asia sand ginger is mostly used fresh, grated or pounded. In Chinese cooking it is always used dried. Drying turns the juicy rhizome into a drier, more concentrated spice: sweet, camphor-cool and gently warm.

In Thai words

Thai cooks describe the taste of pro hom as ปร่า (pra) — pungent and slightly astringent — and its smell as ฉุนหอมลึก: sharp, fragrant and deep.

Sweet balsam

Soft and fruity

Camphor-cool

The fresh top note

Gentle warmth

Never fiery

Dry finish

A faint bitterness

How to use the powder

Start small. About 1–2 g for a dish for four — roughly half what you would use of galangal.

Cook it in. Add it with the other aromatics: to hot oil, a spice paste, a peanut sauce or a rub for chicken or duck.

Taste, then add. Sand ginger is not strong, but it runs through the whole dish. Add more only after tasting.

Ways to use it

Peanut sauces for pecel, gado-gado and satay

Thai curry and chilli pastes

Roast, braised or grilled chicken

Duck, as in Bali’s slow-roasted bebek betutu

Chinese-style braises and spice blends

Rice drinks in the style of beras kencur

Sand ginger and its relatives

Aroma compounds from published analyses; character notes are general culinary descriptions, not measurements.

Storage

Keep the pouch sealed, cool, dry and away from light, as the Thai pharmacopoeia also advises for the dried rhizome. In our experience the aroma keeps well for three to four months after opening.

Two dishes where sand ginger is at home — with peanuts in Java and with chicken in Cantonese cooking. Each for four.

Pecel

Javanese vegetables with peanut sauce

• 1–2 g sand ginger powder
• 150 g roasted peanuts
• 2 garlic cloves, 2–3 red chillies
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
• 2 tbsp palm sugar, 1 tbsp tamarind paste, salt
• 500 g vegetables: long beans, spinach, bean sprouts

Fry the garlic and chillies in a little oil until soft. Pound or blend them with the peanuts, sand ginger, lime leaves, sugar, tamarind and a pinch of salt, adding 150–200 ml warm water for a thick, pourable sauce. Blanch the vegetables one kind at a time, drain and spoon the sauce over.

Sand ginger chicken

Cantonese-style poached chicken with sand ginger oil

• 1–2 g sand ginger powder
• 4 chicken legs, about 1 kg
• 3 slices fresh ginger, 5 spring onions
• ¾ tsp salt, 4 tbsp neutral oil
• Light soy sauce and rice, to serve

Cover the chicken with water, add the ginger and 2 spring onions and keep it just below the boil for 20–25 minutes; leave it in the water for 10 more. Chop the other 3 spring onions finely and put them in a heatproof bowl with the sand ginger and salt. Heat the oil until it shimmers and pour it over — the sand ginger opens at once. Slice the chicken and serve with the oil, a little soy and rice.

From our kitchen

We like sand ginger best with poultry: its sweet, camphor-cool note suits chicken and duck, as Cantonese and Balinese cooks know. It is not a strong spice, but it reaches every corner of a dish, so we use about half as much as galangal — 1–2 g for four. Our own kitchen notes, not Thai tradition.

Beyond the classics

Sand ginger’s sweet, balsamic character in new pairings — not tradition:

Roast duck legs

Rub duck legs with salt, garlic, white pepper and a little sand ginger, then roast slowly until crisp.

Peanut dressing

Stir a pinch into a peanut or sesame dressing for noodle salads and grilled vegetables.

Spiced salt

Mix with sea salt and white pepper as a dip for grilled chicken or boiled eggs.

Pumpkin soup

A small pinch with ginger and coconut milk adds a soft, balsamic depth.

Sand ginger is first of all a spice. Across Asia it also has a long place in traditional practice, and its compounds interest researchers today.

In traditional medicine

Thai traditional medicine describes pro hom as pungent and lists it as a carminative — for wind and a heavy stomach. In Malaysia a small piece of rhizome is chewed with salt for a sore throat, and in Java beras kencur is an everyday traditional drink. These are traditional uses, not proven treatments.

In the laboratory

Sand ginger extracts and their main compound, ethyl p-methoxycinnamate, have been studied in cells and in animals for a wide range of effects. These studies use concentrated extracts, not a pinch of spice, and do not show what eating sand ginger does in people.

What researchers are exploring now

Two studies on the question people ask most — sand ginger and pain:

Int J Science and Healthcare Research · 2017

The effects of Kaempferia galanga L. extract on pain, stiffness and functional physic in patient with knee osteoarthritis

Forty people with knee osteoarthritis took either a sand ginger extract (160 mg a day) or the painkiller meloxicam for ten days. Pain, stiffness and daily function improved in both groups, with no clear difference between them. A small, short trial without a placebo group, using a concentrated extract — not the spice.

Human study · small trial

Molecules · 2012

Bioactivity-guided isolation of ethyl-p-methoxycinnamate, an anti-inflammatory constituent, from Kaempferia galanga L. extracts

Testing extracts step by step in rats, researchers traced their effect on paw swelling to one compound: ethyl p-methoxycinnamate, the main compound of sand ginger oil. In the test tube it blocked the enzymes COX-1 and COX-2 — the same enzymes that common painkillers such as ibuprofen act on. Doses were far above anything in food.

Laboratory study

Keep the context. Most sand ginger research is laboratory work with extracts. The few human trials we found were small and short, used concentrated extracts in capsules and had no placebo group. We know of no human studies on sand ginger eaten as a spice — which is why we describe it as a spice, not a remedy.

Educational product information. Not medical advice. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or taking medication, consult your doctor before using a new botanical product.

Sources: Kew POWO, Kaempferia galanga; Picheansoonthon & Koonterm, J Thai Trad Alt Med 2008; Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia 2021, Pro Hom (Suppl. 2022); PROSEA, Kaempferia galanga; NParks Singapore, Flora & Fauna Web; GlobinMed, Cekur; Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages, Kencur and Fingerroot; Khaosod Technology Chaoban, 2024 and 2023 (Thai); Mae Krua Hua Pa, Vajirayana Digital Library (Thai); Terwiel, J R Asiat Soc 1989 — doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00167875; UNESCO, Jamu wellness culture (2023); Estiasih et al., J Ethnic Foods 2025 — doi.org/10.1186/s42779-025-00267-5; Universitas Gadjah Mada, Kencur (2026, Indonesian); RRI, Seblak (2024, Indonesian); BPS via Databoks, kencur production 2023; Michelin Guide Hong Kong, Know your gingers (2017, Chinese); National Medicinal Plants Board India, Kaempferia galanga; Indradi et al., Int J App Pharm 2022 — doi.org/10.22159/ijap.2022.v14s4.PP38; Wang et al., Front Pharmacol 2021 — doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.675350; Nurhaslina et al., ASM Sci J 2023 — doi.org/10.32802/asmscj.2023.1088; Athikomkulchai et al., Gels 2022 — doi.org/10.3390/gels8100639; Hasegawa et al., Nat Prod Commun 2016 — doi.org/10.1177/1934578X1601101012; The Good Scents Company, ethyl cinnamate; Syahruddin et al., Int J Sci Healthc Res 2017; Ahmed et al., Molecules 2012 — doi.org/10.3390/molecules17078720; China National Health Commission, Announcement 2019 No. 8, via CIRS (Chinese). © Green Botanica