Driftless Ginseng

01/24/2023

Can you guess which herb is known to upregulate proliferation, differentiation, and survival of oligodendrocyte lineage cells?

Gintonin, one of the major non-saponin pharmacologically active ingredients in ginseng, has received considerable attention as a candidate for the treatment of myelin diseases such as MS.

Injecting the brain molecule into mouse models of multiple sclerosis increased the number of oligodendrocytes. The findings suggest fractalkine may help to slow the progression, or potentially halt multiple sclerosis.

01/23/2023

Elder wild American ginseng used in current batch of black ginseng powder.

01/21/2023

A number of active components in ginseng regulate intracellular messengers such as Ca2+ discussed in this study, as well as the cAMP/PKA/CERB signalling pathway that I am familiar with due to its role in tumorigensis. The reduced ginsenosides in black ginseng have a stronger ability to regulate this pathway, and it appears that this explains some of the biomolecular mechanisms involved in its ability to regulate sleep and circadian rhythms as well.

Circadian rhythms of intracellular cAMP in the mammalian circadian pacemaker are driven by neuropeptide-related networks.

01/19/2023

Ginseng constituent parts possess unique chemical profiles and pharmacological utility due in part to the seasonal migration of ginsenosides from the sprout to the root hairs, to the leaves, and then back to the main root. The stem-leaves and floral axis have been generally found to possess similar saponin components as the root, though higher in ginsenosides such as Rb2, Rb3, and pseudoginsenoside F11, the latter of which is gaining attention for its anti-inflammatory and cerebral-protective benefits.

An excellent review of the structural diversity and transformative metabolites of American ginseng can be found here:

Panax quinquefolius L. has attracted extensive attention worldwide because of its prominent pharmacological properties on type 2 diabetes, cancers, central nervous system, and cardiovascular diseases. Ginsenosides are active phytochemicals of P. quinquefolius, ...

01/17/2023

That time I picked a fight with the poison ivy running through our ginseng beds @ Three Hawk Ridge. 2014 I believe. It got me real good that year, so I came back and pulled out as much as I could find. Didn't do any good, but I felt better. Since then I've learned that prescribed burning is a superior approach.

01/17/2023

Before and after 9x steaming. What we lose in weight we gain in bioavailable, low molecular weight ginsenosides that exhibit increased absorption rates and better permeability across cell membranes.

01/17/2023

Syrup made from ginseng, rehmannia root, poria mushroom, and honey. Looking forward to making this soon.

瓊玉膏 Qióngyù Gāo (Beautiful Jade Syrup) is a medicinal syrup made with 人參 rénshēn生地黃 shēngdì huáng茯苓 fúlíngplus honey.First I present the original recipe, the...

01/17/2023

Winter slumber @ Three Hawk Ridge

01/17/2023

Past hunting seasons with examples of wild roots and noteworthy finds.

01/17/2023

Black and white ginseng tinctures after 24 hours. Interesting to see the black root reacting so quickly; the white root will eventually produce a gold colored solution.

01/17/2023

"Ginseng first appears in Chinese medical texts near the end of the Han dynasty, in the Shanghanlun, as an ingredient in some twenty-one formulas. Slightly earlier, however, Wang Fu in his political treatise, the Qian fu lun (2nd c. CE), drew an analogy between the need for men of true wisdom in the healthy ordering of a country, and for genuine ginseng in the cure of diseases; so the drug presumably already had a special reputation.

By the turn of the fifth and sixth centuries, Tao Hongjing in his recension of the Shennong bencao jin and his Mingyi bielu would place ginseng in the rank of supreme drugs, among the medicines that were, in a sense, more than medicines."

Great reading, cheers Brian Kirbis @ Theasophie for sending this my way.

This article, which is scheduled to appear in "The botany of empire in the long eighteenth century" (Dumbarton Oaks), traces connections in global history between the histories of ginseng, silver, tea, o***m, kombu, and MSG.

01/17/2023

I demonstrate the hydrophobic quality of white ginseng compared to the hydrophilic nature of steamed black ginseng.