Zedoary

Zedoary, also called white turmeric, is a rhizome-bearing perennial of the ginger family native to South and Southeast Asia, one of the food plants Austronesian peoples carried with them as they spread across the Pacific islands and to Madagascar in prehistoric times. The fresh rhizome is pale bluish-white to yellow inside, with a fragrance recalling mango but a flavor closer to ginger, finished with a pronounced bitter aftertaste. Indonesian cooks grind it into white curry pastes, Indian cooks use it fresh or in pickles, and Thai cooks slice it raw into certain salads, though zedoary's culinary use in the West has become rare since being largely displaced by ordinary ginger and, to a lesser degree, common turmeric.