Does millennial ginseng really exist? Uncovering the growth years of ginseng
Ginseng is a perennial herbaceous plant that prefers cool, humid climates. It mostly grows on gentle slopes or sloped terrain in mixed coniferous-broadleaf forests or mixed woods where the temperature difference between day and night is small. It gets its name because its root is thick and spindle-shaped, often forked, and its overall appearance resembles a person's head, hands, feet and limbs. Many people often hear talk of millennial ginseng, so let's take a look below at whether millennial ginseng really exists!
Does millennial ginseng exist?
Millennial ginseng is ginseng that has grown for a thousand years, extremely rare and with extremely high medicinal value. It is said that a wild mountain ginseng weighing 75.8 grams appeared on November 20, 2004 at the ginseng festival at Tonghanchun Tang in the Old City God Temple. After appraisal, this ginseng had already passed through a thousand years of history in the soil of the Changbai Mountains in Jilin. When the ginseng farmers discovered it, its unearthed weight reached more than 300 grams, making it the heaviest ginseng so far, setting a new ginseng price record with a “sky-high price” of 2.22 million yuan.
How long is the lifespan of ginseng?
Ginseng is one of the oldest relict plants on Earth. It spread widely during the Tertiary Period, when angiosperms were extremely abundant on Earth. In natural environments its lifespan is usually around several decades, but wild mountain ginseng has a very strong regenerative ability and, under suitable conditions, can grow for hundreds or even thousands of years, so its title as the “king of a hundred herbs” is fully deserved. But millennial ginseng is like an endangered animal, extremely scarce and rare, and once it appears it is basically priced sky-high.
The growing environment of ginseng
Ginseng is distributed in eastern Liaoning, the eastern half of Jilin and eastern Heilongjiang, and generally grows in places with climatic conditions of an annual accumulated temperature of 2000-3000°C, a frost-free period of 125-150 days, snow cover of 20-44 cm, and annual precipitation of 500-1000 mm. It prefers cool, humid climates and oblique and diffuse light, and avoids strong light and high temperatures. The soil requirements are well-drained, loose, fertile brown forest soil or mountain podzolic brown forest soil with a deep humus layer, with a soil pH of 5.5-6.2 being suitable.
What types of ginseng are there?
1. Sun-dried ginseng: Sun-dried ginseng has a yellowish-brown surface, with dark brown horizontal lines and longitudinal wrinkles. It is brittle, light in body, flat in cross-section, white, with radial cracks, fragrant in odor, and bitter in taste.
2. White dried ginseng: The epidermis of the main root of white dried ginseng has all been removed, and the body surface is light yellow or off-white. The horizontal lines at the upper end are not obvious, but shallow longitudinal wrinkles and branch root scars can be seen. Its other traits are similar to those of sun-dried ginseng.
3. Red ginseng: Red ginseng has a brownish-red surface and is semi-transparent, with a yellowish-brown rhizome. It is hard and brittle, flat in cross-section, horny, brownish-red, with a light-colored central circle in the middle, fragrant in odor, and slightly bitter in taste.
4. Wild mountain ginseng: The main root of wild mountain ginseng is short and thick, equal in length to the rhizome or shorter, mostly with two main branch roots, shaped like a human body. The fibrous roots are sparse and long, not easy to break, and have obvious warty protrusions on them.
5. Garden ginseng: The rhizome of garden ginseng has reed bowls on one or both sides, with no round reed. The upper end of the main root has thick horizontal lines, not spiral-shaped, and sometimes horizontal lines can be seen throughout. The fibrous roots are broom-shaped, relatively short and brittle.