Galangal is a plant from the ginger family with the roots being very similar in appearance to ginger roots.
Galangal is used extensively in Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian cooking and has similar properties to ginger. For this reason, ginger can often be substituted for galangal in recipes. But you should be able to find galangal in good stgores that sell a complete range of spices.
Galangal is native to Java and southern China and is now widely grown across South East Asia.
Galangal used to be a very common spice in Europe but it is seldom used in Europe now.
Galangal also has some medicinal applications as well as the culinary uses.
It is used as an herbal medicine to treat upset stomachs and loss of appetite.
It is also used in cattle medicines and as a horse stimulant.
And galangal is used in some perfumes, tea and in brewing.