Little did I know when I gulped down a shot bottle of Nizen’s Probiotic Collagen drink that I am actually taking in the ‘wonder of the world’ – Ginseng?!  This drink along with millions of live bacteria and Nattokinase also has Ginseng root extract. I have been reading and hearing about Ginseng and it’s miraculous powers, but never thought about it much. Now is a good time to delve deep and dig out as much of information as possible and present it here.

Ginseng has always sounded very ancient and is in fact an old ingredient used for herbal purposes for over 5,000 years!  It holds a remarkable esteem in the Orient. Asian Ginseng has been highly revered as an almost miraculous remedy for ailments such as depression, inflammation, diabetes, nausea, fatigue and ageing.

Nizen being a Japanese brand, unearthing more history about Ginseng’s journey into Japan sounded more apt. Ginseng was a prominent, high in demand ‘tribute good’ which was circulated around during Edo period in Japan. Until mid 18^th century, Ginseng was available to Japan exclusively from Korea. At times Ginseng constituted as much as 27% of the volume of Korean goods entering Japan. The demand for the root was so high that there were fights that erupted amongst people queuing up to buy some of the limited supply of Ginseng. Also speculative buying and black marketeering were rampant. Silver ingots which were used for the purchase of Ginseng, led to the idea of encouraging domestic production of Ginseng. Seeking to stem the tide of silver flowing out of the country, it soon came to be produced in many regions throughout the archipelago, the area around Nikko being just one prominent site of production.

A species deserving of its magical reputation was thus brought into Japan. But growing Ginseng is not at all an easy task. Cultivation itself requires considerable care, beginning with the sowing of the seeds on dry clay soil. It is after one year that the strongest roots are then planted out in plantations where Ginseng has not been grown for a period of 10 to 15 years to ensure that the roots do not rot.

From now on whenever I drink up Nizen’s Probiotic Collagen drink I know I have the added power and energy of the miraculous wonder ingredient Ginseng.