Magical Ginger Flowers

My first encounter with ginger flowers occurred when I was just a little kid.  I can't recall the exact time or place.  I just knew that that particular dish of rojak I was eating tasted different, in a really wonderful though inexplicable way.  I didn't then, nor now, have the vocabulary to describe this new taste sensation, except to note that I had never tasted rojak like this before.


Most Singaporeans encounter ginger flowers when they eat rojak.  Even then, not all rojak sellers include this ingredient, so there may be some poor souls who are deprived of this exquisite taste.  Other than rojak, ginger flowers are used only in certain recipes found in Nonya and Malay cuisines - like Penang Laksa and Nasi Ulam.


How does one describe the taste of ginger flowers?  Tasted on its own, the petals give off only slight flowery accents that end on a somewhat sour note.  But when included in a recipe, they transform into a lilting floral and gentle perfume - not cloying the way an overdose of rose flavour can be.  Other than that, it is a flavour that is difficult to grasp in a tangible way.  To me the taste of ginger flowers is ethereal, up-lifting and simply magical.

Since ginger flowers are an uncharacteristic ingredient in the repertoire of daily meals, they are hence not commonly found in supermarkets.  You have a better chance of finding them in wet markets where they are usually sold by one of the vegetables stalls.  Tekka market is the one place where ginger flowers are seen in abundance.  By that I mean that about 3 or 4 of the vegetable stalls offer this item - a whole bunch of the flower buds in their unmistakable shade of pink with light green slender stalks.  When you come across these flower buds, buy a few as they freeze very well.  They can be frozen whole if you plan to use an entire bud in a recipe.  Or detach the petals and divide them among several bags for easier access if only a small amount is required at a time. 

I am doing a series of Asian herbs recipes, with particular interest in using some of these herbs in desserts.  Curiously this gentle flower bud seems to dominate the recipes I am attempting to create, so much so that I have decided to do a category of recipes featuring it as the star.  The ginger flower lends itself well to both sweet and savoury cooking.  I have used ginger flowers in making crumble and muffins for the book The Asian Oven.  


Yesterday, I made ginger flower-kaffir lime-coconut ice cream.  The texture was disappointing - the ice cream turned out more like a sorbet.  However the floral and coconutty flavours were distinct yet not overwhelming, and complement each other charmingly.   But the lime was not detected at all.  Some serious tweaking is in order.

You will read of the outcome once I taste success!