Fresh ginseng

Ginseng frais

What it is

A root is lifted in its sixth autumn, the point at which its ginsenosides peak; the field then has to be rested or rotated for about ten years, because the soil fungi that plague the plant stay put after the harvest. Six years growing against a decade fallow is most of what you are paying for.

In the kitchen

Scrub it, do not peel it — the aroma sits in the skin. Simmered whole in samgyetang, one root per bird for an hour is plenty; sliced raw into honey it is startlingly bitter, so keep the slices paper-thin.

Goes with

Chicken Jujube Garlic Glutinous rice Honey Chestnut

Also used with

Bamboo fungus Cordyceps flower Longan

In season alongside

Bagnoli truffle Brussels sprout Radicchio Reindeer Acorn Arbutus berry

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