I join Dr Choi of the Korean Society of Ginseng for a tour around a local Geumsam Ginseng shop to see what Ginseng products are available to buy. Ginseng is available in extract form, as a drink, as a tea, in capsules, as slices with honey and in whole root form. We discuss the prices and benefit of each Ginseng product.
Music: Shadows in the Moonlight – Josh Woodward “The Simple Life”
I visit with Geumsam Ginseng Market with Dr. Kwang – Tae Choi, former president of the Korean Ginseng Society. Geusam is the main region of South Korea where Ginseng is grown.
Dr Choi talks about some of the proven health benefits of Ginseng. Some of the benefits of Ginseng include anti – fatigue, antioxidant, improves immune system, improves memory, helps with blood circulation, rids the body of heavy metals, helps reduce the effects of radiation, helps normalise cancer cells, improves sperm count and regulates hormones.
Dr Choi discusses the different types of Ginseng available, including Korean Ginseng and American Ginseng and why Korean Ginseng and the Korean peninsula produce the most medicinal Ginseng. Korean Ginseng can grow to six years of age whereas American Ginseng is harvested at four years of age.
Giving the Bird to improper chopstick use!
Our delightful and delectable Seoul host Minji, teaches us how to use chopsticks. She believes the middle finger is the key to correct chopstick control. Willing and eager student Mark tests out Minji’s methods with some interesting results.
Interesting story about how this interview came about. On Wednesday last week I decided I would like to do a story on Korean Ginseng after reading about it’s benefits on the internet. So I put out a message on South Korean Facebook and couch surfing groups. Within 10 minutes someone replied to me on Facebook with a contact from the USA, the son of Shi Keum, the chairman of the Korea Ginseng Association. Only problem was Mr Keum did not speak English, so I needed a translator. I put out a call for anyone wanting to help with translation on couch surfing and that day Minji took up my offer.
This is the english version of the interview with Mr Keum, with Minji providing translation ( I will upload the Korean version also)
We discuss the health benefits of Ginseng, why Korean Ginseng is considered the best in the world, what varieties of Ginseng are available, such as Red and Mountain Ginseng, how Ginseng can be taking and who should take it.
This coming Wednesday I will be visiting the Geumsan province, which is the main area where Ginseng is grown to film how Ginseng is farmed and manufactured.
I look for two things in a backpack, durability and design, and I have found Australian Company, Caribee come up spades in both areas. I recently got a new backpack, the Caribee Skymaster 80. I needed something that both had wheels and backpack straps. My previous pack was a Caribee purchased in 2003 and still going strong. But I needed to get some weight off my back, so needed something with wheels.
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Cook-it-yourself Korean BBQ is my favourite aspect of Korean Cuisine. Samuel Jeffery of http://www.nomadicsamuel.com and I share a BBQ and explain how it follows the no carbs Paleolithic or Caveman diet, that is encompassing foods similar to that of what cavemen ate before humans started farming. The Caveman diet doesn’t include grains and is suppose to be good for those with food allergies and those wishing to lose weight. The theory is having no carbohydrates in your diet encourages weight loss.
With a Korean BBQ you pay for a plate of meat, cook it yourself and all the extras, like lettuce leaves, garlic, ssamjang sauce, onion, bean sprouts, cucumber salad, chilli and kimchi can be replaced if needed at no extra cost.
