March 9, 2011

Chicken Soup with Ginseng, Angelica & Ginger (Ren Shen, Dang Gui & Sheng Jiang)

THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS:

This is a nutritious tonic to promote qi and blood, improve bodily functions and energy.  Overall blood tonic.

PER SERVING:

  • Angelica (dang-gui) head 當歸頭- 5-10gram  (too much will give the soup a bitter taste)
  • Ginseng 人參 - 8gm  (or substitute Codonopsis ‘Dang Shen’)
  • Small Whole Chicken  (about 1 lb., use black-meat chicken for best effects)
  • Pitted red dates  紅棗 - 12 pieces
  • Fresh Ginger 生薑 - 2 slices
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January 29, 2011

A Comparision: Chinese Ginseng, Codonopsis, American Ginseng & Siberian Ginseng

There are many types of Ginseng, and they all have fairly different properties. The two most famous types of Ginseng are American and Chinese.  First off, American Ginseng (Xi Yang Shen) and Chinese Ginseng (Ren Shen) are sort of opposites in the Ginseng world even though they are in the same plant genus (Panax), because the American version is cooling and the one from China is warming. This makes a huge difference. Another close relative is Siberian Ginseng (Ci Wu Jia), which is mildly related to Chinese and American Ginseng because they are in the same plant family, but they do not share the same genus.

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