Ever since Ginseng became popularized in the 1980s in the west and then commercialized, the price has shot up, quality has gone down, and the herb is on a verge of types of endangerment. The biggest issue with Ginseng / Ren Shen in my opinion is the fact that low quality Ginseng is being passed around and sold in products. Whats happening here is that unaged low quality herbs are harvested and then thrown in a large batches to get extracted. You can’t tell anything about the herb once its extracted except how well it works. Dimmak Herbs only uses 6year old + root for its formulas and we feel that is a good potency for the price. We resell this quality for about $5.50 an ounce.
Dang Shen or Codonopsis is commonly known as ‘Summer Ginseng’ in Oriental Medicine. This is because if you saw an Oriental Medical Doctor who excels in herbs (most don’t excel but all are good) you commonly wont be prescribed Ginseng in the Summer Months. Codonipsis is of course weaker than Ginseng, however this doesn’t have to stop you from substituting it as a 2.5:1 ratio! The other benefit is that Codonopsis is all well aged, so you are always getting potent Codonopsis, so 2.5:1 ratio may preform better than you think. Many of us use 3:1 ratio in formulas to substitute, but you don’t really need to if you eat or decoct in tea for yourself. I would recommend a 2:1 ratio to start, in fact I would recommend that you get your herbs from a quality provider, so that you can even compare the results (if you bought ginseng from us, I wouldn’t be suprised to see benefits just from that).
So lets get down to business here, so what does this Codonopsis herb cost? Well we sell it for $1.55 an ounce for quality Codonopsis, even at the MAXIMUM 3:1 ratio you can save $.75 an ounce, at the recommended 2:1 ratio that’s a HUGE savings, even if you only use this during this advice over the summer.
Some other benefits of Codonopsis. The root is tall and thick, so when cooked can be chewed easier and can be used for babies teething. Codonopsis is an immunity builder, when combined with Astragalus / Huang Qi it makes a great formula to be used daily for the rest of your life! This combination, along with many other synergenic herbs can be found in the IMMUNITY pill formulas, and the Vitality Elixir Formula both easily accessible in our Preventative Care Section. Dimmak Herbs Preventative Care Herbal Formulas Try this out and let me know!