By Eric Brand

I loved Bob’s recent post on authenticity. It would be impossible for me to follow up with a similar post, because Bob summarized my feelings on the topic perfectly. Instead, I’d like to write a post on how to buy authentic Korean and Japanese ginseng.

Follow up:

When it comes to Chinese medicine, even the correct diagnosis is of limited value if one doesn’t have access to the correct herbs. Authenticity is a major issue in Chinese herbal medicine. In fact, after visiting over a dozen school clinics in the U.S., nearly all of the schools that I have visited have at least some misidentified, inauthentic products on the shelf. Some schools have 10-20 incorrect items; these items are used as identification standards for the student’s education (wince), and these items are prescribed to patients daily despite the fact that they are regional substitutes with minimal historical evidence of reliable, safe use. Seriously people, this is a huge problem. Ethical, legal, educational quagmire #1.

Anyway, people write entire books on the subject of herbal authentication, scientists and traditionalists devote their lives to it. While I could flog this horse indefinitely, it is invariably better to offer solutions rather than to simply complain about problems. So here’s how you can buy authentic Korean and Japanese ginseng.

Korean ginseng and Japanese ginseng are more expensive than Chinese ginseng. Generally, they occupy a premium niche in the market, though China also produces extremely high-end ginseng if one knows how to buy it. Korean ginseng has a secretive, advanced processing method and strict growing regulations, and is regarded as more warming and more powerful for supplementing qi. Japanese ginseng (true Dong Yang Shen) is milder for supplementing qi, but it tends not to exacerbate heat conditions. The higher cost of Korean and Japanese ginseng reflects their smaller output, higher cost of labor, and the fact that their authenticated products are controlled by authentication bureaus that maintain a virtual monopoly on the product.

Korean ginseng is often processed and sold in a red form. White Korean ginseng also exists, it tends to come from younger roots (4 years instead of 6 years) and it is much cheaper than red Korean ginseng. White Korean ginseng should have authentication documentation, which often appears as a variety of stamps and specs on the box (root size, straight vs. curved, production year, inspection date, etc).

Korean ginseng is either deep, dark red or off-white in color, depending on whether one is using white vs. red ginseng. By contrast, Japanese ginseng is usually processed by par-boiling, which causes the center to look red while the outside looks slightly white. Both products are ideally aged, and one can buy them in “vintages” just like wine (a 1978 crop can have a high price tag relative to a newer crop, for example). As the ginseng ages, the color deepens and the fragrance gets stronger. Counterfeit Korean ginseng is often processed to look dark but its fragrance is less pronounced and clean.

Where to buy Korean and Japanese ginseng? Obviously, Korea and Japan are good places to start, but authentication can still be a big problem even within the host country. The fundamental issue is that high-quality ginseng is grown in China and then smuggled into Japan or Korea for processing and packaging so that it fetches a higher price. Therefore, even in Korea and Japan, authenticity cannot be assumed.

Mainland China is the worst place to buy Korean and Japanese ginseng, because it is almost all fake (grown in China, not Korea or Japan). The one exception is that China is likely a good place to buy North Korean ginseng, but it is produced in small quantities and it is hard to buy in China unless one has a relationship with a trusted supplier.

By contrast, Taiwan is a great place to buy Korean and Japanese ginseng. The scale of wholesale in Taiwan allows one to get a reasonable price, although authentic Korean and Japanese ginseng is expensive no matter where one buys it. America is a relatively sketchy place to buy Japanese and Korean ginseng, because most of the brands on the market for Korean ginseng are fake (Chinese-grown) and we don’t have a large enough market for Dong Yang Shen (Japanese ginseng) to create any significant supply chain for the authentic product.

To buy Korean ginseng, the trusted source is a brand called Zheng Guan Zhuang, literally “true controlled packaging.” Zheng Guan Zhuang is controlled by the Korean government; it is often counterfeited, never duplicated. In the U.S., the sole distributor is the Irvine Trading Company. Korean ginseng grading is very complex, it depends on the way it branches, the neck development, the color of the cortex, the fragrance, etc. Authenticated, top grade “Heaven 15” roots (the lower the number, the larger the average root size) cost over $2000 for 600 grams.

This prohibitive price is a deal-breaker for most. The best way to get authenticated Korean ginseng is to buy the “cut” grade. This is also sold by Zheng Guan Zhuang but it consists of irregularly cut roots, the mistake cuts of the same product (but not grouped based on size or “heaven/earth” grading techniques). This stuff is over ten times cheaper but the quality is similar. It doesn’t look as good but if you go through many tins, you can select out the nicest roots and sell them separately at a higher price while slicing the less-beautiful pieces as you prescribe them.

As you leave the circle of trust and get away from the government-sponsored authenticated Korean product, the price starts dropping dramatically. Avoid true counterfeits, which are grown in China and packaged in tins to look quite similar to the authentic product (often with Korean writing). This stuff is no good; best case scenario you will get average Jilin (Chinese) ginseng that is overpriced, worst case scenario is that you open the tin and get a strong smell of molasses as you realize that you’ve just been bunked.

There is, however, a bit of middle ground between the authentic and the inauthentic Korean product. Apparently some clever Taiwanese businessmen have gotten into the Korean ginseng trade, and they buy up Korean-grown ginseng and smuggle it to China for processing and export. Such ginseng avoids the high government taxes and higher costs of packaging and labor. Although it is cannot be properly authenticated or fully trusted, it is often very high quality and it costs much less than the authenticated Zheng Guan Zhuang product.

Moving down one step is a certain brand that will remain unnamed, which is a Hong Kong export commonly seen in U.S. Chinatown shops. This claims to be Hong Kong-packaged Korean ginseng (tin just calls it Korean), but many suspect that the roots within actually come from China. Additionally, one can get Chinese-grown ginseng that comes from Korean seeds, which allows one to utilize the Gao Li Shen (Korean) subtype of ginseng without paying through the nose. This latter product is found in both red and white forms, and is best purchased in China.

Japanese ginseng has a similar problem as Korean ginseng- only one really reliable authenticated source. Like Korean ginseng, you cannot trust the loose roots in the glass case unless you really know your supplier. Japanese ginseng is the original source of what we call “Dong Yang Shen” (Eastern Seas Ginseng), but Dong Yang Shen is now produced in China and Korea as well. Like Gao Li Shen, Dong Yang Shen is a strain, a cultivar of ginseng (think Granny Smith apples and Fuji apples, same species but different cultivars). Dong Yang Shen also typically has its own processing technique (par-boiling instead of simple sun-drying or steaming).

Now, Dong Yang Shen comes in several price ranges and packaging forms. The cheap stuff is grown in China, the best stuff comes from Yunzhou and Xinzhou provinces in Japan. Once one knows what to look for, the different grades can be differentiated visually. Here’s the catch: Most of the Japanese ginseng is packaged overseas, so the authenticity is hard to verify. Within Japan, smuggling of Chinese ginseng is a problem, so one can find “Yunzhou” labeled ginseng that is processed in Japan, but it is impossible to tell if it comes from a small provincial farm or if it was smuggled in, processed and then packaged in Japan to fetch a higher price. Such items can still be good quality, but they should cost less.

With Japanese ginseng, a good vendor can show you all the different grades side-by-side. They can show you the cheap Chinese stuff (starting around $35/lb or so), then they can show you the non-authenticated Japanese product, and finally they can show you the authenticated Japanese product (can easily be $200/lb and up). If your ginseng vendor can’t show you the difference between these items, find a new vendor.

In fact, if your ginseng vendor isn’t forthcoming about all the issues that I’ve mentioned in this blog, find a new vendor. Buying good medicine is all about trust, authenticity, and relationships.