Insam Cha 인삼차 (Korean Ginseng Tea)

My in law came to visit not long ago and brought us some fresh ginseng.  These are 6 year old ginseng.  Do you know how to recognize the age of ginseng?  My mother in law taught me by counting the "head" of the ginseng, the top part of ginseng... I think it's a great tip :) Have a try the next time you go shopping for ginseng~

Since we can't consume all the ginseng in one go, we wash and clean up the fresh ginseng and keep them in freezer.  By keeping the fresh ginseng in freezer, it will help to last longer up to 2 - 3 months.  We usually cook Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) but since there are a roots falling apart when we did the washing and cleaning.  We collected them and boil ginseng tea.  Nothing goes to waste ^^



Yield: About 2 liter of ginseng tea
Ingredients:
A handful of Ginseng roots or 1 Ginseng
25 piece Red dates (jujube)
10 piece Dried longan (optional)
3 liter Water

Step by step photos:

1. Wash and clean up the ginseng and red dates.  Prepare a pot, put in the ginseng, jujube, dried longan and water.  Boil over medium high heat for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes, close the lid and simmer over low heat for another one and half hour or until you get brownish red color of tea. 
3. Off the fire and serve.
4. To get the full amount of flavour from the ginseng, add more water and boil it over for the second time.  Keep the tea in the fridge and drink it anytime.  If you like your tea hot, reheat and serve.

**My mother in law told us that it's best to cut off the head of the ginseng when you consume them as it's believed that the head part provides too much heat to the body if consume.