GALANGAL : Though foreign to most of us in the West, this relative of ginger has many of the same health benefits, most notably its ability to aid with digestion. Galangal is now grown in most Southeast-Asian countries, but was first harvested for use in cooking and medicine in China and Java. By the Middle Ages, galangal was already in common use throughout Europe. Referred to as “the spice of life” by St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), galangal was, in fact, one of her favorite remedies. This famous herbalist used galangal to treat everything from deafness and heart disease to indigestion. Today, galangal is used extensively in Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, and is often thought to be even more beneficial than ginger in some ways.