How to Tell the Authenticity and Quality of Medicinal Materials Such as Bird's Nest, Ejiao Cake and Ginseng

For consumers, the most commonly encountered traditional Chinese medicinal materials are precious ones like ginseng and bird's nest.

1. Bird's nest thread-pulling method: Bird's nest is an excellent tonic. High-quality bird's nest is arranged in silky strands, appears silver-white when soaked in water, is crystal-clear and transparent, soft in texture, elastic, and stretches when pulled.

2. Ejiao tapping method: Ejiao is made by boiling and processing donkey hide. To identify it, hold the gel block in your hand and strike it hard against a tabletop; the block will break brittlely into fragments, and the broken pieces will be brown, semi-transparent, and free of foreign matter. If it stays soft when tapped without breaking, it is suspected to be a counterfeit.

3. Ginseng taste method: Ginseng has a very distinctive taste. The genuine product tastes bitter with a sweet note; if it has a numbing, spicy, sour or astringent taste, it is a counterfeit. ⟦7 4. Notoginseng blood-dissolving method: Put notoginseng powder into a small amount of pig blood, and you will find the pig blood turning into a watery state. This is mainly due to the hemolytic effect of the saponin components contained in notoginseng.

Notoginseng blood-transforming method: Put notoginseng powder into a small amount of pig blood, and you will find that the pig blood turns into a watery state. This is mainly due to the hemolytic effect of the saponin components contained in notoginseng.

5. Pearl burst method: After burning genuine pearls with fire, they can be seen to crack in layers with a sparkling shine; if they turn into crumbs or a scorched paste after burning, they are counterfeit.

6. Gastrodia water-steaming method: When identifying gastrodia, besides noting the "parrot beak" (stem base scar), the "ring segments" (fibrous root scars) and the "concave navel", you can steam the gastrodia over water and smell it; if it has a rank, urinous (horse urine) odor, it is genuine.

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Ox bezoar nail-coating method: Take a small amount of powder, moisten it with water, and apply it to a fingernail. If it is natural ox bezoar, its yellow color will not fade for a long time.

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Bear bile swirling method: Take a small amount of bear bile substance and put it into a cup filled with clear water; if the bile substance is seen swirling and sinking in the cup and dissolving into a yellow line, it is genuine. The bile of other animals does not swirl in this way.