Posted on 10/17/2016 4:27:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Far East’s Ginseng root is best known for its medicinal (and aphrodisiacal) qualities. The root, in its natural state, is wildly popular in Asia—but also in short supply. To sate this demand, a black market for wild ginseng has cropped in the most unlikely of places: Appalachia.
Currently, the global market for wild ginseng is around $2 billion. Long a staple in China and Korea, the root is finding new popularity in Singapore and Malaysia now, too. Most ginseng is grown in factory-like settings on a mass scale. But wild ginseng is considered more potent and, thus, more expensive. Cultivating the root is also more destructive, too.
Among the regions where ginseng is indigenous, wild ginseng has become increasingly scarce in East Asia. In an effort to prevent overharvesting, trade of the wild root has been banned in China and Russia. That leaves the only other part of the world where ginseng grows on its own: the eastern United States.
Much like their Asian counterparts, authorities in the United States and Canada have criminalized sale of the root. Despite this, there were 81,500 pounds of wild ginseng sold in 2014. With the markup for the root being around 15 times the cost of the mass-produced variety, the illegal ginseng sold for about $800 per pound when dried. Realizing the easy revenue and trying to double down on conservation efforts, states such as North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia have rushed to legalize ginseng harvesting periods. Given the huge markups and profit involved, however, illegal foraging of wild ginseng it still a major problem....
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearlife.com ...
VERY profitable in central NY,as well - these simpletons truly believe it will put ‘Lead In Their Pencils’ ...
UGH!
Go, Trump, GO!
I knew a few guys in Iowa and Missouri back in the 1980’s that subsisted on finding it in the woods.
It’s not new...They’ve been hunting “Sang” ever since I can remember in East Tennessee mountains...I’m 67...
I tried it a few times a long while back. Did absolutely nothing. No buzz, no lead in pencil, no nothing.
Why are these people simpletons ?
They have been doing this since my grandpa was a coal miner.
When the mines were on strike you had two ways of making money, one was moonshine the other was ginseng hunting.
After he married grandma he promised to give up making moonshine so that left ginseng.
This is nothing new. It’s been going on for a long time.
Why?
Mountain people have gone ‘sangin for as long as I can remember. It’s always been valuable, going back to colonial times. A good sized “man root” with four prongs can fetch $1K, and an especially big, old, gnarly one can bring ten times that. American indian tribes held ginseng in a very similar regard as the Chinese, as far as purported health benefits and uses. It grows in every state east of the Mississippi.
It's not easy ... dry is a five to one ratio.
You can sell wet (or I could in those days) but it was a big cut
American Indians are Asian Siberians, right?
That’s been claimed but I don’t know if genetics bear it out.
Yep, it’s not as if you can just go dig them up and sell them right then and there and get the big prices. There’s preparation that involves drying, and the root shrinks when it dries. Only the very hard-up sell them “wet,” and take a big dollar hit for doing so, but if you need it right then you need it right then, I guess.
This has been true for years.....has led to some poaching
Does it grow in the Florida Panhandle?
I would sort of like to make some extra cash.
One wave of migration from Siberia populated the Americas, DNA shows
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/22/one-wave-of-migration-from-siberia-populated-the-americas-dna-shows
The claim that the sale of wild ginseng has been criminalized is overstated to the point of being in error. I can’t speak for the laws in other states, but in NC there are state lands (but not state parks) as well as some national parks that allow harvesting, but a permit is required. There are legal requirements for harvesting, as well. Written permission from the property owner is required, if on private property. You dig it up, you must reseed from the seed pods within 100 ft of the site. There is a season, Sept 1 through Dec 31 (wouldn’t want to do it while the snakes are still out anyhow). Wild ginseng harvested must have at least three prongs.
The claim that the sale of wild ginseng has been criminalized is overstated to the point of being in error. I can’t speak for the laws in other states, but in NC there are state lands (but not state parks) as well as some national parks that allow harvesting, but a permit is required.
There are legal requirements for harvesting, as well. Written permission from the property owner is required, if on private property. You dig it up, you must reseed from the seed pods within 100 ft of the site. There is a season, Sept 1 through Dec 31 (wouldn’t want to do it while the snakes are still out anyhow). Wild ginseng harvested must have at least three prongs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.