- Insam(인삼, 人蔘) is Korean word for Ginseng.

It’s the end of September and finally the weather starts to cool down. Living in the San Fernando Valley makes me think that even 85 degree is cool! Of course, I have a strong resistance against heat or gets cold really easily.

Cool weather reminds me of many kinds of warm, aromatic, sweet, sour or bittersweet Korean teas made of fruits, roots, leaves or grains such as yuja cha (citron tea), maesil cha, dunggule cha, gugija cha, bori cha (barley tea), oksusu cha (corn tea), mogwa cha and insam cha (gingeng tea).

I am being a little surprised that insam cha is included in my list because I wasn’t very fond of it when I grew up. Because it’s known for preventing winter colds or illness from fatigue, every October or November my mom used to make insam cha and forced(?) my siblings and me to have it. It was such an ordeal for me! Not only I had to drink the bitter tea but had to eat the actual insam (gingeng) and all other ingredients such as daechu (jujube or Korean dates). They didn’t taste good!

- Daechu (dates or jujube)

Maybe it’s natural that now I actually miss having the insam cha and all the ingredients that my mom made because she’s not here in America to make it for me and I’ve realized that it worked for me who has low body temperature and low blood pressure. I rarely had colds or wasn’t much sick at all in winter when I lived in Korea. Only if I had known, I wouldn’t have been such a spoiled resistant!

Insam cha (Ginseng Tea) is good for fortifying the immune system, increasing energy, improving blood circulation, and relaxing the nerve system. It’s also good for those who have low blood pressure, anemia or low body temperature.

The best way to have insam cha is to boil actual insam with some daechu (dates).

Sample Ginseng Tea Recipe
1. Boil 500ml water with 50g insam and several daechu. Boil it until the water almost becomes half.
2. Drain water and add a tea spoon of honey when serving.
3. You can also have insam and daechu with some honey. It tastes bittersweet.

* 6 year old insam is usually considered the best ones.

Insam cha is a little expensive for a daily tea if you want to actually boil it yourself. It also can be difficult to get freshly harvested insam in the USA. The alternative way it to have powdered insam cha made of insam extract.

* It’s commonly accepted that ginseng (insam) or ginseng tea is not good for those who have high blood pressure or high body temperature. It’s not recommended for pregnant women because ginseng warms up their bodies. Limit the amount of ginseng or ginseng tea in summer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 under Korean Food.