Ngoc Linh Ginseng - also known as Vietnamese ginseng with scientific name is Panax vietnamensis, is a very precious ginseng found in the central central provinces. Discovered in the 70s of the last century, this is the 20th ginseng found in the world.
The stem is an upright, green or purple parasitic stem with a rather small diameter of only about 4-8mm. Ngoc Linh ginseng only exists in the mountains, grows at an altitude of 1,200m or more and takes up to 10 years to mature. Perennial Ngoc Linh ginseng often has flowers and fruits that grow concentrated in the center of the foliage, turning orange-red when ripe with an irregular black dot at the top of the fruit.
This type of ginseng has long been considered a treasure for the Sodang people, used by them to nourish and cure many common diseases.
This is also one of the most expensive types of ginseng today. It is estimated that natural Ngoc Linh ginseng costs up to hundreds of millions of VND / kg, even billions of VND if you can find ginseng roots dating back hundreds of years.
Why is Ngoc Linh ginseng super expensive?
Ginseng is expensive as everyone knows because it contains a lot of nutritious ingredients: amino acids, fatty acids, many trace elements and especially many antioxidants. But after all, ginseng is expensive because it contains a chemical called saponins.
Saponins in nature are not only found in ginseng, but also in some other plants. It acts as a natural antibiotic, helping plants fight foreign bacteria.
When entering the body, saponins will produce some active substances called ginsenosides. This substance directly strengthens the immune, metabolic, endocrine and central nervous systems, helping the body to work extremely efficiently.
But the saponin in ginseng is a very special substance, with a much stronger effect than common plants. Even many people think that ginseng can cure cancer. And that is why ginseng is one of the most popular medicinal herbs in the world.
Korean and Korean red ginseng are two types of premium ginseng in the world, containing about 25 types of saponins (fresh ginseng), or 32 different types of saponins (dry ginseng). According to the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, Ngoc Linh ginseng has 52 types of saponins, of which 26 types have not been identified. This factor has turned Ngoc Linh ginseng into the ginseng with the highest saponin content in the world. In addition, in Ngoc Linh ginseng, there are 14 fatty acids, 16 amino acids (including 8 irreplaceable amino acids) and 18 multi- trace elements.
Also because of its rarity and many practical uses, the demand for Ngoc Linh ginseng has increased, leading to the overexploitation of people. This type of ginseng takes up to 10 years to mature, so it soon fell into a state of extreme danger of extinction. So it's rare and now rarer, the price of Ngoc Linh ginseng also increases accordingly, sometimes more than a dozen times more Korean ginseng.