The Serumpun Codex · Aromatics and spices
Tuhau
A pungent wild ginger stem from Sabah.
The entry
- Name
- Tuhau
- Other names
- Wild ginger stem of Sabah
- Scientific name
- Etlingera coccinea, likely the same species as tepus
- What it is
- A pungent wild ginger stem from Sabah.
- Knowledge from
- The Kadazan-Dusun and Murut of Sabah.
- How it is used
- Chopped into bosou (fermented fish) and pickles.
- Season and place
- The interior of Sabah: Tambunan, Keningau and Ranau. No harvest season is recorded.
- Conservation status
- Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2019 assessment).
- 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 and its use in the French Borneo kitchen.
Sources
- Yau et al., 2024
- Nazeer et al., 2025
- New Straits Times, A closer look at Sabah's unique tuhau delicacy, 2024
- GBIF, IUCN Red List checklist record for Etlingera coccinea, citing Poulsen, Olander and Docot, IUCN Red List 2019, e.T117318042A124282047
- IUCN Red List, Etlingera coccinea
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) ‘Tuhau’, The Serumpun Codex, ed. James Won. Available at: https://www.chefjameswon.com/serumpun/codex/tuhau/ (sources checked 1 November 2026).
Quote any entry with this citation, and name the community whose knowledge it is.