Ginseng, the Divine Root: The Curious History of the Plant That Captivated the World

by David A. Taylor

The story behind ginseng is as remarkable as the root itself. Prized for its legendary curative powers, ginseng launched the rise to power of China's last great dynasty; inspired battles between France and England; and sparked a boom in Minnesota comparable to the California Gold Rush. It has made and broken the fortunes of many and has inspired a subculture in rural America unrivaled by any herb in the plant kingdom.
Today ginseng is at the very center of alternative medicine, believed to improve stamina, relieve stress, stimulate the immune system, enhance mental clarity, and restore well-being. It is now being studied by medical researchers for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.
In "Ginseng, the Divine Root," David Taylor tracks the path of this fascinating plant from the forests east of the Mississippi to the bustling streets of Hong Kong and the remote corners of China. He becomes immersed in a world full of wheelers, dealers, diggers, and stealers, all with a common goal: to hunt down the elusive "Root of Life." Weaving together his intriguing adventures with ginseng's rich history, Taylor uncovers a story of international crime, ancient tradition, botany, herbal medicine, and the vagaries of human nature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Plants, Nature, History, Biology, Food

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2006

About the author

Twenty years after the publication of my first book, Ginseng, the Divine Root, I’ve been revisiting the story that led me into the forests of the Appalachians and into a hidden economy of plant harvesting and poaching.
What began as a story about a medicinal root prized on two continents has, over time, connected to a wider exploration related to environmental crime, global demand for natural resources, and the pressures on forests and communities.
My recent work, including articles in Smithsonian magazine and Scientific American, has revisited those themes. It suggests that the dynamics that I found in the ginseng trade and the people who follow it have grown even more relevant.

Reviews

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in a manner that has become popular with journalists Taylor traces the history of ginseng, specifically wild ginseng and how it is harvested in North America and Asia. The narrative allows Taylor to meet people all along the eastern Appalachians who depend on the root to help them get by. It is an interesting read.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book to understand the history of ginseng in North America. Yes, dear readers, ginseng digging goes back to the colonial days. American ginseng found a ready market in Asia and has been exporting ever since. An amazing cast of characters is met up and down the Appalachians that have some interest in ginseng. The author kept my interest as he moved through the supply chain of ginseng in the US, from the growers, to the diggers (poachers), to the agents that export it.

I like reading about the impact of a single plant to the world. I've read books about rubber trees, nutmeg, coffee, and have one about cotton in the on-deck circle. Some are dull, some are captivating. This book about ginseng, for me, edges towards captivating. If I learn that some of my notions about a time and region are wrong, I get excited.

I learned that the growing capital for ginseng in the US is in Wisconsin. In China, it is a proud fact that the ginseng sold in stalls in the import cities is from Wisconsin. Amazing!

If you are curious about ginseng, people's reverence to the root, or how it fits into the history of the early US, this is the book. The ginseng folks are a secretive group and this is an excellent view into that world.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THIS POPULAR ROOT

Author David A. Taylor wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “American ginsengers through the centuries were happy to collect the roots to sell, but it was rare for them to chew the root themselves. And there’s still a good deal of debate among American doctors about whether ginseng does any good. Depending on who you ask, ginseng either works to catalyze that body’s vital energy, or it acts as a mild tonic and antioxidant, or it’s a fraud. Some U.S. researchers have found that certain chemicals in American ginseng may protect brain cells against degenerative conditions like Parkinson’s disease. No one denies, though, that ginseng has, at least, a very powerful effect on the imagination.” (Pg. 3)

He observes, “Ginseng, like many others, faces the possibility that it will not survive in the wild for much longer. If it doesn’t, strands of our own history will be lost. Meanwhile, every fall, American ginseng continues to get shepherded along routes that lead from forests to the world’s cities and suburbs, passing through an eclectic assortment of hands… American ginseng roots, both wild and farm-grown, are shipped to South America, Europe, and Asia… The history of this modest plant brings together Iroquois botanical knowledge and… acupuncture… fraud and folklore. Perhaps no other plant encompasses quite this range and intensity of human experience. This book is about a plant poised between the danger of the wild and the safety of domestication, and is a picaresque of what life is like for a species balancing between extinction and stardom.” (Pg. 7-8)

He notes, Ginseng’s popularity is part of a larger surge in Americans’ consumption of herbal foods and beverages: from $30 million in 1997 to over a billion dollars a year now. This trend caused concern at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and in 2001 it warned companies that some products with ‘novel ingredients’ like ginseng could be illegal.” (Pg. 30)

He explains, “Asian ginseng’s reputation as a mild stimulant fit well with the Taoist idea of maintaining the body’s ‘qi’… Plus, its shape corresponded with another Taoist idea, that humans mirror the universe around them… The resemblance between an odd, branchy ginseng root and the human form made ginseng promising for many human ills.” (Pg. 35)

He recounts, “Early in the twentieth century, American use of medicinal herbs declined following the 1910 Flexner Report, a searing critique of medical education in the United States that influenced medical schools profoundly. The report urged that American medical schools focus on allopathic medicine, to the exclusion of many approaches that had once been popular, including herbalism.” (Pg. 42)

He states. “Ginseng was probably used as a food before it gained currency as a health tonic. In China, tonic cuisine has a long pedigree… In Korean cooking, too, ginseng is used in chicken soups and in other dishes… Most traditional recipes call for Asian ginseng, but as experience with American ginseng has grown, many chefs have embraced it… For most Western palates, though, the root has a long way to go. Energy shakes and smoothies are a step in that direction… Despite the commercial failure of Ginseng Rush, many other soft drinks and teas have established themselves on the market, including an uncola counterpart: Ginseng Up!... In over a decade with Ginseng up!... the drink’s market [grew] steadily and leap[ed] the divide from marginal specialty shops to mainline grocery stores… Exactly how much ginseng actually went into Ginseng Up! was hard to say.” (Pg. 239-241)

He concludes, “In searching for ginseng’s secrets, we glimpse what we value as humans. Its history tells us how much people through the ages have treasured good food, good health, and wealth, but also intangibles like tradition, longevity, and even (very recently) biodiversity. People are ginseng’s predators, its dispersal agents, and in rare cases, its protectors. Right now the plant is poised at a precarious junction. In the end, we will probably grasp ginseng’s true nature only when we appreciate our own mysterious place in the natural world.” (Pg. 275)

Persons primarily interested in Herbal Medicines and Naturopathy may be disappointed in this book’s lack of discussion of the possible ‘health benefits’ that may come from ginseng, but those wanting a cultural and social history of this plant will be very pleased with the book.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have used a lot more editing, and a more organized structure, but the truth is that the story of ginseng itself really lacks in drama. I've read a number of "pop non fiction" books about single plants or ingredients, and while many have had their flaws, the subject matter was at least interesting. I feel like, having read an entire book about ginseng, my understanding of it is roughly the same as it was before: the Chinese value the root for its medicinal properties, although Western clinical studies have found little evidence to support this. it is grown both in Asia and in America (wild and cultivated), and can be quite valuable. I don't think there's much else to it.

[Stephen Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's see, what do I know about ginseng? It's a supposed herbal panacea, from China (or was that Korea?). It began invading New Age consciousness and health food stores around the time of Woodstock. It has quite a nasty, bitter taste. Oh, and didn't some clever American farmers recently start growing ginseng and selling it back to the Chinese? Clearly what I knew was not a lot, and after reading Ginseng, the Divine Root, I realized half of that was completely wrong. Two facts underpin David A. Taylor's fascinating book: ginseng has been growing in North America for 70 million years; and North Americans have been selling ginseng to the Chinese for almost 300 years.

Treasured by Chinese as a tonic for thousands of years, ginseng had been pushed towards extinction in China when half way around the globe a Jesuit missionary made a fortuitous discovery. In Quebec Joseph-François Lafitau was ministering to Mohawk converts, but in that great theology/science duality so characteristic of his order, he was also intently studying the Iroquois. While there he happened on an article by a fellow French missionary who had travelled extensively in China. Lafitau was intrigued. The article described ginseng, its use and value in Chinese medicine. He then, rather remarkably, set out to see if he could find the plant locally. In 1716 after only three months of searching, Lafitau with the help of the Mohawk, had identified Panax quinquefolium, American ginseng, virtually identical to Asian ginseng. The root had long been used medicinally by the Mohawk and other Native Americans but never with the same passion as the Chinese.

So began a rush for 'forest gold' as thousands in Canada combed the woodlands for wild roots, all destined for a lucrative market on the far edges of the Pacific Ocean. As ginseng fever spread, even Daniel Boone was later involved in the trade down in West Virginia. Ginseng, writes the author, became the United States' first major export to China.

Taylor weaves together the many threads of the ginseng story, a tale that straddles two continents with vastly contrasting cultures. This is reflected, in the differing ways ginseng is valued and used in each. "In Chinese medicine," writes the author, "it's an all-purpose tonic, often blended with more toxic herbs to mellow their effects. In Western medicine it's gaining converts for relieving severe fatigue."

The book reads like an adventure as Taylor follows the American ginseng trail throughout one season, meeting farmers, traders, and various experts, even joining a ranger on a night stakeout in a national park trying to nab poachers of wild ginseng. The story is perhaps most interesting when Taylor joins diggers in the 'hunt' for the root in Appalachia. Wild ginseng is such an idiosyncratic plant that the search for it is considered more akin to hunting – it can, for instance remain dormant underground for several years, waiting for the right conditions before sending up a new shoot. Some diggers claim the plant can camouflage itself or even move! What is more certain is that its relative scarcity these days only adds to the challenge of finding it, and no doubt, to its market value.

It was not until the Seventies, more than 250 years after Lafitau identified the plant that ginseng started to become widely known in the United States. Now Americans spend more than $100 million annually on products listing it as an ingredient.

There are three types of ginseng (in descending order of value): wild, wild simulated, and cultivated. Such is the value of ginseng that 'ginsengers' protect their plants like gold prospectors defend a claim. Even cultivated ginseng, the most common form, is difficult to work with and requires six to eight years to reach the size desired by Asian markets. Wisconsin-grown ginseng is now considered the world's best, and fetches a correspondingly high price. Wisconsin is also the leading exporter.

As quickly as the newer markets for ginseng are growing, China will likely remain the primary market, and not just because of China's huge population and expanding economy. In the West, for every ginseng buff there is a cynic, and five others who couldn't care less. In China by contrast, so strong is the underlying traditional belief in the restorative powers of ginseng. that just about everyone is at least an occasional user.

The book is aimed at the general reader, but industry types might also learn a thing or two given the secretive nature of the business Taylor describes. Readers who are not utter ginseng devotees might find the middle section of Ginseng a little slow, but most of us will be swept through anyway by Taylor's enthusiasm. One chapter though, Served by the Finest Chefs, focusing on ginseng and food, somewhat misses its mark because the central figure, celebrity chef Ming Tsai unlike the other major characters in the book, is not strongly connected to ginseng, at least professionally. He does not cook with the root in his own restaurant, and is surprisingly, unaware of American ginseng.

Taylor winds up this highly engrossing trawl through the history and business of ginseng in Hong Kong and China, meeting with ginseng merchants and visiting specialist markets. We learn, somewhat fittingly for the times, that in China both Asian and American ginseng is now cultivated using modern American methods. That is good news for consumers, but the lasting allure of 'forest gold' has placed the wild root under threat in America, as well as China.

[Destynnie Berard · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had some good nuggets of information in it, and there were stories that caught my interest, but overall the book rambled and it wasnt a cohesive read that was easy to follow. Too many small details from the research made it into the final writing, which was just information overload and it was difficult to pick up on what was important to remember as a reader.

[Liminal Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have liked more medicinal purposes and ways to use it.