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| Samgyet'ang: Source of Vitality |
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Koo Chun-sur
Director, World Food Research Institute
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Samgyet'ang, a traditional Korean dish, is very popular with foreign visitors to Korea. Much like China's Beijing duck (roasted duck that originated as Peking duck), it attracts many tourists eager to give it a try.
Samgyet'ang can be described as a hot ginseng chicken soup. First the inside of a chicken is stuffed with Chinese jujubes, ginger, garlic, glutinous rice and ginseng, and is then boiled in water for a longtime.
Ginseng: Effective for Boosting Energy and Immunity Levels
That ginseng contributes to higher energy levels is not mere hearsay. European medical references and books on health invariably list ginseng among various ingredients effective for increasing one's vitality. In Chinese and Japanese medical books, ginseng is recorded as a valuable medicinal herb highly conducive to promoting the recovery of recuperating patients or preventing cancer by strengthening the immune system.
Wild ginseng grown on the Korean peninsula is called "mountain ginseng." The roots of mountain ginseng, often highly sought-after, can command high prices. It is not uncommon for a mountain ginseng root to be worth more than $10,000 in the Korean market, if it is old and without blemishes. This is why there are still people who, like their fathers before them, pursue a livelihood of gathering mountain ginseng. Such people are known as shimmami in Korean. These people still observe the tradition of cleansing their body and mind along with performing rituals to the gods before embarking on a search for mountain ginseng.
Throughout history, there have been many instances in which food or food items, such as pepper, tea, opium and wine, were instrumental in changing the course of world history. For example, there was the introduction of black pepper to Europe by soldiers who accompanied Alexander the Great on an expedition to India. Europeans quickly developed a great liking for this spice, which raised the price of pepper to the equivalent of silver, in terms of weight. This motivated European rulers to resort to war to secure channels for conducting trade in pepper, the result of which led to the Hundred Years War (under the pretext of reclaiming the Holy Land), and even ultimately to the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.
Events of historic dimensions tend to take place when people come to crave the food unavailable in their own regions or countries. Consider the following episode associated with ginseng, currently recognized throughout the world as a valuable health supplement.
Ginseng that Changed the History of China
The people of Jurchen, a Manchurian tribe, were nomads noted for their courage. They lived in what is now Heilongjiang province, usually in small groups of several hundred, or a thousand at the most, dispersed over wide expanses of land. From the ancient past, the Chinese feared the Jurchen people, as can be evidenced in the saying: "If a Jurchen tribe exceeds 10,000 in number, do not make them your enemy." The Jurchen farmed and raised livestock. They also engaged in tribute-related trade of ginseng, fur and pearls gathered from around the Heilongjiang and Sungari rivers.
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1643) issued Imperial Edicts to Jurchen tribes, thus granting them a monopoly over ginseng, fur and pearls, which were offered to the imperial court in the form of tribute. Only those who demonstrated blind loyalty to the imperial court were able to receive official status and be eligible beneficiaries of Imperial Edicts. About 300 Imperial Edicts were bestowed upon the Jurchen. The Ming Dynasty continued to maintain the tribute-related form of trade to procure the highly valued ginseng from the people of Jurchen.
Nurhaci, a Jurchen chieftain, showed strong loyalty to the imperial court and received 30 Imperial Edicts. This became the foundation for his expanded power, which enabled him to ultimately become the founding father of the Qing or Ch'ing Dynasty (l644-1911) that toppled the Ming Dynasty. While Nurhaci was an outstanding warrior and ingenious strategist, he could not have founded a Manchurian state without the Imperial Edicts that granted him a monopoly over ginseng trade.
Ginseng, the main ingredient of samgyet'ang, has long been revered as a source of mysterious power in Asia, particularly Korea and China, known to be efficacious against fatigue and the infirmities of old age, while providing energy to the weak and helping to stabilize bodily functions. For instance, it is believed to lower high blood pressure, and promote the speedy recovery from various ailments. Ginseng is widely regarded as a panacea due to its ability to strengthen the immune system.
Today, ginseng is also popular as an aphrodisiac for improving one's sexual vigor. It is therefore highly sought among older men in need of some assistance to enhance their sex life.
It takes at least four years of cultivation in a field covered with screens to block out direct sunlight for a ginseng root to grow to a length of at least 10 centimeters. Although ginseng requires moisture, it does not tolerate standing water, which means it must not be watered excessively. Nor should it be treated with pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Large areas of land are necessary to cultivate ginseng and it does not grow well in fields where ginseng has been previously cultivated. Ginseng roots shaped like the human body are particularly prized, bringing a much higher price than other ginseng roots.
For samgyet'ang, a small, young chicken is used, or sometimes an ogolgye, a dark-skinned chicken. A young chicken is preferred because of its tender flesh and lesser fat. Besides being leaner, agolgye has a high protein content.
The inside of the chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, Chinese jujubes, chestnuts, garlic, ginger and other health-inducing ingredients. It is then bound tightly with a silk thread and placed in a pot of water. It should be boiled over high heat with the lid closed. Once the water comes to a boil, it is left to simmer for about two hours over low heat until the flesh becomes tender and the fat is drained. A thick fire-resistant pot should be used to boil the chicken and keep the soup hot while being consumed.
Although summer in Korea is not as hot as in India, the temperature often exceeds 30¡Æ Celsius. People tend to lose their appetite in the sweltering heat, so they often turn to samgyet'ang to regain their vitality.
Ginseng wine almost always accompanies samgyet'ang. Watching someone drink the strong ginseng wine, which has an alcohol content of almost 40 percent, in a tiny porcelain cup less than one-fifth the size of a coffee cup, then blowing on the stewing samgyet'ang before eating can easily make one's mouth water.
Diners always depart from a samgyet'ang restaurant wiping perspiration from their flushed faces, a sight that acts as a magnet to attract other people into the restaurant. Nowadays many signboards in Tokyo, Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City advertise samgyet'ang in the summertime. Although the customers in these countries are not particular about the kind of chicken that is used, they are quite picky about the ginseng, preferring those from Korea. People in other Asian countries especially value Korean ginseng for its greater efficacy, confirmed through firsthand experience.
People who frequently travel overseas usually have one or two items they always take with them during these trips. Japanese usually carry dried wasabi (horseradish) powder, dried laver and umeboshi (pickled plums), Indians curry, and French wine and cheese. Vietnamese take along nuocmam (fish sauce) and rice paper. Koreans are no exception to this. Aside from bean paste and red pepper paste, they visit oriental medicinal herb markets to buy four- or five-year-old ginseng roots dried in a special facility when they are planning a long trip or are going to remote areas. The ginseng roots are then ground into fine powder, and placed in small pouches or in boxes made of paulownia wood.
The food items travelers usually carry with them on trips abroad are foods they are long accustomed to, with which they try to recover their energy if they experience a loss of appetite after eating unfamiliar foreign food.
Ginseng is not a spice or food ingredient, however. It is a medicinal herb long believed to possess mysterious powers that can regulate and restore body functions. The roots of this perennial herb cause no harm, even when consumed over an extended period of time, except for certain individuals with special physical conditions.
China ruled over vast regions of the Asian continent for a long time, enabling it to produce or procure most of the products it needed or desired. The exception was ginseng. Chinese especially treasured the ginseng from Korea, regarding it as superior to their own. This is why past governments monopolized the ginseng trade. Ginseng is also cultivated in Japan, but Japanese ginseng is of inferior quality compared to Korean ginseng. The potent powers of ginseng are also well known in the United States. In the days of the early pioneers, ginseng growing wild in the mountains of Minnesota provided supplemental income for local residents.
As for me, I always take dried ginseng powder with me whenever I am away from home for more than 10 days. |
Source: Koreana, Summer 2000 |
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