Changchun, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The "King of Herbs" leads the autumn and winter health regimens

China News Service reporter Guo Jia

In Fusong County, Baishan City, Jilin Province, in the trading hall of Wanliang Ginseng Market, boxes of newly listed garden ginseng and understory ginseng are placed on the ground, and customers come forward from time to time to check the quality and inquire about the price. Outside the hall, shops are lined up, and the prices of high-quality ginseng for sale range from a few thousand yuan to hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Manliang Ginseng Market is the largest ginseng trading center in Asia, with more than 2,<> people coming here every day every year at the peak of the autumn trading period.

In Jin Yong's novel "Smiling Proud Jianghu", there is a chapter about Ling Hu Chong's illness, and Shi Niang Ningzhong boiled ginseng soup to visit him, saying, "This is the ginseng soup boiled in the wild mountains outside the Guanwai, which is very beneficial to the body." The "Guanwai" here refers to the Changbai Mountain area.

Located at the foot of Changbai Mountain, Fusong County is known as the "hometown of Chinese ginseng", with more than 1500,450 years of wild ginseng excavation history and more than <> years of ginseng cultivation history, and its unique climate and soil conditions are particularly suitable for ginseng growth. Locals often pull a few ginseng whiskers as a condiment in vegetable soup, or simply take a whole ginseng to soak in wine.

Yu Yongjian, a chef in Fusong County, is a master of "making ginseng". His research and development of hundreds of ginseng dishes such as blue gold ginseng, honey ginseng, ginseng dried meat, ginseng double crispy, crispy ginseng chicken, Changbai double treasure, etc., are widely favored by tourists at home and abroad.

According to Yu Yongjian, honey ginseng is one of the most popular dishes, and sometimes dozens of dishes are made a day. Ginseng has a sweet and bitter taste, and it should be removed when it is used in medicine, which is also the most difficult part of making ginseng dishes, and different chefs have different methods.

Yu Yongjian's exclusive secret recipe for making honey ginseng is to boil a pot of secret broth first. The ginseng is washed and soaked in water, then moved into the secret broth, with honey, jujube and other accessories, simmered until the ginseng is soft, and the honey tastes each other.

"This dish is suitable for all ages, melts in the mouth, it can be said to be warm and mellow, sweet but not greasy, and foreigners who come to Changbai Mountain are also full of praise for this dish." Yu Yongjian said that ginseng has a great tonic effect, and it is better to eat it in autumn and winter.

Ginseng, known as the "King of Herbs", often appears in various martial arts novels, and is almost a panacea for the protagonist to "appear" to save him when he is in danger. In the fictional world of martial arts, ginseng not only cures all diseases, but also prolongs life and improves skills. Back to reality, for thousands of years, Chinese who pay attention to health preservation have always regarded ginseng as a good product for replenishing qi, nourishing beauty, calming the nerves, and prolonging life.

The Shennong Materia Medica, written in the Han Dynasty, enshrines ginseng as a nourishing product. Su Shi, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, liked to eat wild ginseng, and once wrote the poem "In order to put the teeth and cheeks, wouldn't it be virtuous to drink tea", praising the wild ginseng in his mouth and chewing it carefully, is it better than famous wine and good tea!

However, ginseng is a great tonic and must not be eaten blindly. Sun Jiaming, a researcher at the Jilin Provincial Institute of Ginseng Science, told reporters that ginseng planted for more than 5 years has stronger medicinal effects and should not be widely eaten by ordinary people, and ginseng planted artificially for 5 years or less can be used as food. The consumption of ginseng should be limited to less than 3 grams per day, and it is too much to take too much, and it can be taken for a long time to lose weight and prolong life.

On September 9, a "Sam Wang" competition was held in Wanliang Town, Fusong County, Jilin Province. The picture shows a wild ginseng (dried product) that is more than 28 years old and has won the title of "ginseng king" in this group. Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Yao

On September 9 this year, at the first Iwai Cup Wild Ginseng King Contest sponsored by the Baishan Wild Ginseng Association, three "ginseng kings" stood out. Among them, the ginseng that has won the title of "Wild Mountain Ginseng (Dried Product) Ginseng King" is about 28 years old.

In the Wanliang ginseng market, a number of merchants told reporters that this is a place where you can buy real wild ginseng, and each wild ginseng has an identification certificate issued by a third party, so you don't have to worry about buying defective and shoddy products.

In 2012, the Chinese government added ginseng to the list of "homology of medicine and food". From the pharmacy to the kitchen, ginseng prices play a key role. The maturity of artificial ginseng technology promotes the ginseng price to be "close to the people".

Sun Jiaming introduced that slicing and containing is the most convenient and most commonly used way to take ginseng, just put the ginseng slices in the mouth, wait for them to soften completely, and then chew and swallow.

Since the ginseng you buy is often whole and dry, it is difficult to cut it, so you can put it in a container first and stew it over the water until it is soft, or you can put it in when you simmer the rice, and the cooked ginseng will be soft. Cut ginseng into slices is dried and bottled in a cool, dry place for storage. The bottle should be opaque and dark. If you want to make ginseng tea, you can also add sugar or honey in moderation.

Today, as the largest ginseng production base in China, Jilin Province accounts for 60% of the country's total ginseng production and 40% of the world's total, with a total output value of 2022.642 billion yuan in 5, and has developed and produced more than 1000,<> kinds of ginseng products in five series: ginseng food, medicine, health care products, cosmetics and biological products, realizing the development and utilization of the whole ginseng plant. "With the acceleration of the aging process of the Chinese population and the improvement of the concept of public health care, the market demand for ginseng products has shown a strong growth trend and has broad prospects." Sun Jiaming said. (ENDS)