Organic Galanghal (pronounced guh-lang-guh) is often found in Thai, Indonesian, and Malaysian cooking. It's a rhizome - an underground creeping stem of a plant that sends out shooters to create new plants. Ginger is also a rhizome, and at first glance you might mistake galangal for ginger.Galangal is a little bigger - it also has a shinier, whiter skin than ginger's soft brown coating. It's much, much harder than ginger, too; ginger is usually juicy and soft enough to be grated with a ceramic grater.
Galangal was known to the ancient Indians, and has been in the West since the Middle Ages. Its stimulant and tonic properties are recognized by the Arabs who ginger up their horses with it.