By Eric Brand

The photo above illustrates a very creative way of using ginseng tails. Ginseng tails (the adventitious rootlets at the distal part of the root body) are very inexpensive and they have an excellent flavor. In many ways ginseng tails are a by-product of normal ginseng use because the tails are often discarded when the ginseng is sliced. Traditionally the tails were considered to be inferior to the body of the root, and they are often sold separately for use in dietary therapy (ginseng chicken soup, etc).

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Ginseng is commonly sold with the tails already removed to facilitate slicing, and many pharmacists that are going to slice the roots prefer to buy ginseng with the tails removed because the tails are less valuable by weight. However, the whole roots with the tails intact are desirable when making medicinal wines because they give the ginseng a more beautiful appearance.

High and low grades exist for both red and white ginseng, but top quality red ginseng tends to be more valuable than white ginseng because the best roots are often processed into the red form. By convention, superior grades of red ginseng usually have the tails removed while superior grades of white ginseng often have the tails intact, but this distinction is far from absolute. Interestingly, the tails are actually higher in total ginsenosides than the root body, but the profile of the individual ginsenosides is typically superior in the root body.

Since good white ginseng often has its tails intact, it is not uncommon for a pharmacist to have extra white ginseng tails around. The photo above has a tall jar with a pointed tip in the right side center of the photo. That jar is full of white ginseng tails and liquor, and the technique used to make the display is ingenious. I've never seen anything like it despite going to hundreds of Chinese pharmacies, and the artistic creativity is notable. The pharmacist collected all the white ginseng tails and stuck them in a piece of bamboo such that the bamboo was completely obscured from view. After adding alcohol, the result is a long spire of ginseng tails emanating from a central column. Beautiful, distinctive, and a good use of what would otherwise be a very cheap by-product.

I guess the fact that I get excited about such things just underscores what a nerd I really am.