[Sca-cooks] Galangal

[Terry Decker]

I can't help you with finding both spices.  I get galangal at a local health 
food store and have yet to run across lesser galangal.

Greater galangal is Alpinia galanga.  Lesser galangal is Kaempferia galanga, 
except that the term is also used for Alpinia officinarum.  A. officinarum 
is commonly defined as galangal and is a common substitute for greater 
galangal.  Presumably, lesser galangal does not have as bright a flavor as 
greater galangal and is more bitter and medicinal.

This URL should bring you into lesser galangal on Gernot Katzer's Spice 
Pages:

http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Kaem_gal.html

Bear

> Can someone tell me the difference between Greater and Lesser Galangal? 
> And,
> maybe, direct me someplace where I might obtain both varieties? It's
> becoming important in some recipes I'm looking over.
>
> Saint Phlip,
> CoD