The Serumpun Codex · Aromatics and spices
Torch ginger
The pink flower bud of a tall ginger, used to scent curries, laksa and ferns.
The entry
- Name
- Torch ginger
- Other names
- Kechala (Iban); bunga kantan (Malay)
- Scientific name
- Etlingera elatior (Jack) R.M.Sm.
- What it is
- The pink flower bud of a tall ginger, used to scent curries, laksa and ferns.
- Knowledge from
- The Iban, among others, who cook paku (fern) with it.
- How it is used
- The flower buds flavour curries and laksa.
- In the French Borneo kitchen
- Marinates the tiger prawn in Course V, Sea, at Osaka. An oil at the Kuching Finale.
- Season and place
- Grows in secondary forest, often in open places, near rivers and in peat swamps, and is grown in farm plots, as by the Iban of Lubok Antu, Sri Aman. It is sold in Sarawak's markets; no flowering season is recorded.
- Conservation status
- Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List (2019 assessment); not listed under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998.
- Codex Alimentarius
- No Codex standard
- Medicinal knowledge
- Held privately by the community
- Consent
- Given, recorded by CHASS, 30 October 2026
Still to be confirmed: who shared it with Serumpun.
Sources
- Sarawak Department of Agriculture
- Malaysia Biodiversity Information System (MyBIS), Etlingera elatior, 2022
- Awang-Kanak and Abu Bakar, Traditional vegetable salad (ulam) of Borneo as source of functional food, Food Research, 2019
- Bunga kantan: robust, fragrant, versatile relative of ginger, The Borneo Post, 2026
- Poulsen, A.D. and Olander, S.B., Etlingera elatior, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2019 (category read via GBIF)
- GBIF, IUCN Red List record for Etlingera elatior
- Forest Department Sarawak, Protected Plants of Sarawak (Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, Part II)
- Sarawak Government, Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998 (Cap. 26), Second Schedule, LawNet 2024
Added to the Codex on 1 November 2026. Sources last checked on 1 November 2026.
Anyone may cook with this knowledge, commercially too, provided the community it comes from is credited by name. To correct or withdraw this entry, write to the Custodian at connect@chefjameswon.com.
How to cite this entry
Serumpun Sarawak (2026) ‘Torch ginger’, The Serumpun Codex, ed. James Won. Available at: https://www.chefjameswon.com/serumpun/codex/torch-ginger/ (sources checked 1 November 2026).
Quote any entry with this citation, and name the community whose knowledge it is.