Beautiful and Sweet - the alluring white ginger of Panama

White ginger flower

Go ahead, take a second glance..if her beauty doesn't stop you in your tracks, her exotic scent sure will. Standing about 5ft tall, white ginger is not one to be overlooked. Some call her a weed and some an important medicine. We refer to her as the striking white flower filling the jungle with her elegant, rich, jasmine-like fragrance, and her root gracing our curry dish with flavor. That's a lot for one flower I know, but it's well deserved.

Native to Asia more specifically Nepal and India (naturally, like most our plants and flowers and trees here!) this plant likely made its way to Panama as it's strong and durable rhizome root for cooking, medicinal, or ornamental purposes. If gardening is your jam, Panama is where it's at for botanophiles where, for a lot of plants you simply take a cutting, or in this case, a piece of the root, stick in the ground, and watch it grow.

White ginger on the left, turmeric on the right.

A guests day at our resort is filled with great adventures in the sun, the ocean, on the trail, the beach and the mountains so, we make sure they are fueled with fresh, healthy, and delicious foods. Our guests are constantly blown away by the quality and flavor of our dishes like a coconut curry with white ginger and turmeric from our garden and coconut from the palm trees on our property.

White ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves

While our human guests enjoy foods flavored by the root, and the scent of the flower as they stroll through our biodiversity trails, monkeys also enjoy the flower and leaves. Kunochi, a Panamanian White Capuchin at the Melikki Primate Rescue Center on our property enjoys eating the seed pods.

If staying at an intimate eco resort nestled beneath a jungle canopy in front of great surf, in an exotic country like Panama is on your travel list for 2026, we await your arrival.

With love from Morrillo,

Cari & Ryan Mackey

Owners and hosts