Brief: Wild Ginseng

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September 1st marks the beginning of the Wild Ginseng season in Wisconsin. Each State is allowed to set its own parameters for length of season, but since ginseng is most potent after August the trend is roughly the same across the country. Also, with Wild American Ginseng being listed as endangered, the season does not typically last more than two months.

Already, Hsu’s has seen its fair share of Wild Ginseng hunters bringing their fresh finds in exchange for hard-earned money. With the season being short, and the value of Wild Ginseng being as high as it is, thousands of people across the country are searching through anything that remotely resembles a forest.

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Kaitlyn Backhaus (left) and the Wisconsin DNR representative auditing the Wild Ginseng brought in by various hunters.  Pound for pound they must be inspected for the State’s records.

In its natural habitat on the forest floor, ginseng is able to sustain itself for many years and gain considerable potency as it ages. The only way to estimate Wild Ginseng’s age is to count the ‘rings’ that appear on top of the root. Those rings are actually the lifeline of the root, and if the original root dies, the lifeline, known commonly as the ‘mother root’, will spawn a new root in its place. If a root sustains a series of harsh winters and conversely a series of favorable winters the lifeline will expand and contract based on its conditions under the surface. The fluctuation of size found throughout the lifeline is how we determine the root’s age and thus will eventually be separated by age and size for its use as a finished product.

Rumors of 100-year-old roots are not uncommon, as we may have one of our own. However such an anomaly is something few hunters will witness within their lifetime. Given the amount of Wild Ginseng harvested every year, the days of finding a root of that caliber and age may be over, especially for future generations. That is why the cultivation of American ginseng may become more important than ever in the next few decades.

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EST. 100-Year-Old Wild Ginseng Root.  Found by Hsu’s founder and President Paul C.Hsu, east of Wausau, WI

 

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Berries – Field and Forest

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Late August is a special time for ginseng growers in Marathon County, WI. The arrival of the ginseng plant’s berries is a sign that the harvest season draws near, and simultaneously thousands of Wild Ginseng hunters are scouring the woods across the nation for the most valuable ginseng in the world.

In our fields, groups of workers are beginning to manually pluck those berry clusters from the plants and collect them in their baskets.  From there, they will be transported to our new farm facility which is the hub for creating seeds and sending them through the stratification process.  Each berry contains up to two seeds, and a mature ginseng plant may yield between twenty and thirty seeds every year. Through stratification, we are able to store our seeds throughout the entire winter so they can be used for next year’s planting season starting in July.

Harvesting berries to create a seed stock is important for two reasons:  we are able to maintain our own stock for future harvests, as well as offer our seeds to aspiring ginseng growers around the nation; and, when the berry cluster matures and is harvested, the potency of the root increases as the plant is signaled to send its resources downward.  For that reason ginseng farmers in Marathon County will wait until the end of September to harvest.

For Wild Ginseng hunters, the arrival of ginseng berries makes the search significantly easier. In the viridescent forests of Wisconsin, the bright red clusters are far more telling of the presence of ginseng than the plant’s other physical characteristics.  Hunters have a fairly small window of opportunity to find, dig, clean, and sell their Wild Ginseng (legally).

But for some, finding it is over half of the battle.  In Wisconsin, places like the city of LaCrosse and many towns along the Mississippi River in Southwest Wisconsin are still the leading areas where hunters can still find ginseng in its natural state.  Outside of Wisconsin, the most abundant source of Wild Ginseng is the Appalachian Mountains in an area that span from New York to South Carolina.  There, hunters and poachers alike take part in the fast-paced and often lucrative Wild Ginseng hunt.

Certain social blights have marred the U.S.’s Wild Ginseng trade’s reputation in recent years.  In the opening week of Wild season in 2015, a North Carolina farmer reported that over $6000 worth of Wild Ginseng was stolen from his property.  It is a situation encouraged by over-dramatized reality TV shows such as ‘Appalachian Outlaws’ and will likely continue as the price of Wild Ginseng per pound remains high.

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Wausau Marathon 2016

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Saturday August 20th, 2016, marks the 5th annual Wausau Marathon in Wausau, WI.

The importance of this race can’t be stressed enough as it serves as a qualifier for the Boston Marathon in April of 2017.  Runners from all over the country, even the World, participate in the Wausau Marathon because it has that small-town atmosphere yet is serious enough to advance runners to other marathons across the United States.  The featured runs are the full marathon, the half marathon, a 5K (3.1 mile run), and the Kid’s Fun Run.

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Since most runners are exhausted and starving by the end of their 26.2 mile endeavor, Hsu’s involvement in the marathon expands to offering each runner, staff member, and volunteer a gift of our Ginseng Granola, Gin-Max, and a discount on a future purchase.  We believe the granola would be a favorable snack after the race, before everyone starts slamming burgers and beers that is.

If you haven’t already signed up for the Wausau Marathon or the affiliated races, you can register here.

Last year, Brendan Thielsen took first place with an elapsed time of 2 hours, 53 minutes, and 28 seconds, which believe it or not was actually faster than some of the half marathon runners at a 6 minute and 40 second per mile pace.  So if you are a running enthusiast, or you’re just in need of some action on August 20th, head to Marathon Park around 7:00 AM.

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The Grant

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On Thursday, July 14th, 2016, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism granted the International Wisconsin Ginseng Festival committee, led by head organizer Lisa Berry, a lump sum of nearly $40,000 to facilitate all of the activities planned for the upcoming festival in September 2017.

The grant will help cover the costs of transportation, use of products from the affiliated ginseng companies, such as ourselves, and the use of facilities such as the Monk Botanical Gardens here in Wausau, WI.

Will Hsu hosted the grant ceremony with about thirty attendees at our ginseng gardens on the outskirts of Wausau, WI.  He was interviewed by WAOW TV 9 (ABC) on a few quick facts about ginseng and also what the festival means to him as the largest exporter of American Ginseng in the U.S.

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Accepting the grant check at our gardens in Wausau, WI

“Let’s not just think about the international aspect of this festival, but also the Chinese-American consumers here in the United States that will be traveling from California, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Texas, and other pockets of the United States where immigrants have settled here over the last one hundred to two hundred years and are still consumers of this product to this day.” – Hsu said.

The amount of work and effort going into the festival is sure to give everyone  who attends something to remember about Wisconsin tourism, agriculture, and way-of-life.

For more information on the International Wisconsin Ginseng Festival you can visit their website here.

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Hsu’s Ginseng Tours

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From Friday, July 22nd:

Paul Hsu himself hosted a high school tour group from Zhangjiagang China.  Starting off with a group lunch, the group was treated to a full showing of our gardens and facilities.

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From Thursday, July 14th:

The Knabenmusik Group from Switzerland joined us in the fields on their tri-State tour through Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

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From Friday, July 7th:

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Ginseng and Straw, Lifelong Friends

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60 semi loads.  That’s how much straw we will go through as we are finishing up our planting season.  The piles of straw bales form a mountain aside our fields as our modified shredders distribute them over the terrain.  Groups of workers led by Nick Sandquist, Farm Manager, send whole large bales through our shredders and plaster our gardens with a thick layer of straw.  The ginseng root itself is so susceptible to the elements that without the protective straw, our yields would simply plummet to pre-World War II capacity.

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Mount Straw – a mere fraction of the straw we go through during our planting season.

Groups of workers rake the straw with pitchforks to spread the straw evenly so that the seeds are well-hidden from wild turkeys, yet not too deep so that next year the plants can emerge from the ground.  The straw will remain there through the entirety of the plant’s life cycle.  It fills several needs:  protection from the elements of rain, ice, snow, and even wind; shields our ginseng from turkeys, slugs, and other creatures we run into in the fields; protects the root itself from additives applied to the plant that protects it from invasive pests and fungi.

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Straw is applied with our customized shredding machines that can fit under our shaded cloths.

After the straw is evenly distributed by hand over the raised beds, we can begin to stretch our shaded cloth over the garden.  Shaded cloth is an upgrade over traditional wooden sections because it gives us more control of the drainage during heavy rains and it is consistently blocking out 78% to 82% of the sunlight at all times.  The shade structure is removed around our harvest season in October so our plants may go dormant.  None of this would even be possible though, if we did not have our straw.

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This is what our garden will look like one year from the planting date.

You can watch the latest video of spreading straw here.

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Functional Food and Ginseng

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Hsu’s breakthrough project of providing healthy snacks and foods is well underway. The project set forth mid-2015 to expand the product line from supplements and whole root packages to offering our customers more food-inspired items.

Initially, the project began as a granola blend that contained our own ginseng, and after several trials and modifications to the formula, Ginseng Granola is nearing it’s final stages of development. We hope to expand the initial formula into a line that features other great Wisconsin-based products, such as real Wisconsin maple syrup, and real Wisconsin cranberries.

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Ginseng Granola with its expandable options.  Depending on its initial success we hope to expand even further the possibilities for this breakthrough product.

Another well-received endeavor comes from the hands of Meister Cheese Company from Muscoda, WI.  Nearly a year ago we sourced them a form of ginseng similar to what we use in our American Ginseng Candy and now our Ginseng Granola.  As it stands today, their crafting was masterful and we will soon see the full unveiling of their newest product:  Ginseng and Garlic Jack Cheese.  The reception it received among Hsu employees was nothing short of great and we look forward to seeing this product flourish.  Like Ginseng Granola, their Ginseng and Garlic Jack Cheese is nearing it’s end of development, so you won’t be able to see it in stores quite yet, however it’s worth checking into occasionally.  More of what Meister Cheese Company does as a professional cheese maker can be found on their website.

 

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We Are Hsu’s

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We Are Hsu’s  Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprise, Inc. has evolved dramatically over the past 43 years.  Initially a mail-order service for Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants, it has since expanded to being a World leader in providing the highest quality Wisconsin-grown American ginseng with a high-profile eCommerce presence and direct ordering services in the U.S. and China.  Its evolution is accredited to its foundation of family in business.  In more than one area of the business, we enjoy having second-generation employees continue to grow in our company culture.  You can see the business developing not only as a family business, but more so into a business family.  Join Paul Hsu, and his son Will Hsu, in seeing a modern-day profile of our business and our commitment to quality.

 

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From left to right, Sharon Hsu, Paul Hsu, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Will Hsu at the grand opening of our new facility in Wausau, WI, where various farm and compost operations are held.

 

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Meet 2016 Forward under 40 Award recipient William Hsu ’00

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UW Majors: Finance, East Asian Studies, And Chinese Language And Literature

Age: 39 | Wausau, Wisconsin
Vice President of Operations at Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises and Farmer at Hsu Ginseng Farms

Madison. Minneapolis. Boston. Phoenix. William Hsu has lived, worked, and studied in many cities across the country. But for Hsu, there’s no place like home: Wausau, Wisconsin.

Born to first-generation immigrants who left Taiwan in search of greater opportunities in the United States, he learned the importance of education from an early age. He first became involved with the UW System when his parents enrolled him in the College for Kids program held during the summer at UW-Marathon County. He also took college-level math classes there while still in high school.

Hsu wasted no time in making an impact on UW-Madison when he arrived in 1994. He took part in residence hall government, was a house fellow for UW Housing, and later became a campustour-guide coordinator, which taught him a lot about the history of the university.

“… we are now focusing on upgrading our technology and investing in our people and infrastructure to compete in this new digital era.”

“These instrumental lessons in developing programs prepared me well for the multitude of positions I have held in the business world since — more so than any summer internship or off-campus work experience,” he says.

After graduation, Hsu landed a job as a financial analyst with General Mills in Minneapolis and later obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston. He then moved to Phoenix to rejoin General Mills, supporting its western sales division.

Hsu is now back in Wausau running day-to-day operations at Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises, a business his parents founded in 1974. His goal is to continue to build upon his parents’ forty years of success and lead the organization and the family’s farms into the twenty-first century.

“We have more than three hundred employees around the world, and we are now focusing on upgrading our technology and investing in our people and infrastructure to compete in this new digital era,” he says.

Through it all, Hsu has not lost his passion for UW-Madison. In 2010, he and his wife, Jenny, endowed the Hsu Family Great People Scholarship with money collected from their wedding gifts, along with a corporate match from General Mills. He then worked with the university and the UW Foundation to help develop the Bucky Challenge, an innovative social-media fundraising campaign launched in 2011 that brought in one dollar for each “Like” on Facebook and every new follower on Twitter. He also serves on the UW Foundation Board of Directors.

– See more at: http://www.uwalumni.com/awards/william-hsu/#sthash.DSP71M0s.dpuf

不可不知的「靈の芝」

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不可不知的「靈の芝」

全破壁靈芝孢子 + DNA基因鑑定

遠在中國三千年以前，靈芝已經用來治病，中國最早的一本醫書「神農本草經」及明代李時珍「本草綱目」中已記載了靈芝可「久服輕身不老，延年神仙」。靈芝孢子是靈芝的種子亦是精華之所在，大概1,000kg靈芝才能收集1kg靈芝孢子。可想而知，靈芝孢子比靈芝更珍貴難求。靈芝孢子雖小 (只有5-6微米)，但它兼備了靈芝的全部遺傳活性物質，而且有效成份更全面，含量更高 (據臨床資料顯示，有效成份含量比靈芝高75倍。)

全破壁

靈芝孢子粉為什麼需要破壁？靈芝孢子有一層極難被人體胃酸消化的幾丁質構成堅硬的壁殼，沒有破壁的孢子粉無法為人體吸收消化，只有打破這層外壁，有效成分才能被人體完全利用吸收。科學實驗證實，服用沒有破壁的孢子，只有10~20%的有效成分能被人體吸收，而破壁之後有效成分吸收率在90%以上。

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許氏日本靈の芝，採用靈芝綜合研究所專利孢子超低溫物理壁破碎技術，使有效物質容易釋出，在電子顯微鏡下，破壁率達100%。而且，在超低溫條件下對孢子進行破壁，不僅激活孢子的活性，提高了人體的吸收率，且能保持有效成份不被破壞。破壁孢子粉比沒有破壁孢子粉具有更強的體外毒殺癌細胞的活性。

全破壁靈芝孢子保留所有有效活性成份，如靈芝多醣、三萜類、腺苷、有機鍺等，服用後能迅速被人體吸收，提升免疫力。

靈芝多醣：抗炎、鎮痛、毒殺病變細胞、抗缺氧等作用；迅速提高免疫力，促進淋巴細胞增殖，提高巨噬細胞、NK細胞、T細胞的吞噬能力和殺傷力；直接和間接毒殺病變細胞。

靈芝三萜：減輕放化療負面作用、免疫調節作用、降血糖作用、降血脂作用、抗氧化作用、保濕、抗皺抗衰老作用。

靈芝主要功效 成份
1. 提升免疫力   提高免疫力 ，增強體質 靈芝多醣
2. 安眠養神   補腦養血，振奮精神，回復好心情 三萜類
3. 穩定三高   維持健康指數，促進心血管健康 腺苷
4. 清肝解毒   防治肝臟問題，促進代謝 有機鍺

DNA

許氏日本靈の芝是全美最先採用 DNA基因鑑定技術研製的靈芝產品。日本長野一號特殊菌種，採用有機栽培，無菌分離技術，無雜菌、無汙染、無農殘、無重金屬，經國立台灣大學DNA基因鑑定，此一菌種穩定，無變異，可生長出菌傘大、厚身、特殊香味的靈芝，高多醣，高三萜。利用該尖端分析技術能確保「許氏日本靈の芝」的原料百分百無誤，使產品質素更加穩定、更有保證，亦是靈芝產品科學化的一項重大突破。

「許氏日本靈の芝」是採用現代技術栽培的靈芝，特別是仿野生純段木栽培，GMP安全食品規範管理，品質更佳。其生理活性物質含量與野生條件下生長的靈芝沒有多大區別，而且質量穩定，消費者服用更安心。

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 許氏日本靈の芝

許氏『日本靈の芝』具有抗疲勞，美容養顏，延緩衰老的功效。現代人常有三高症狀 (高血壓、高血脂、高膽固醇)，失眠、健忘、頭暈，亞健康以及體弱人士皆可長期服用，是21世紀人類健康首選的保健珍品。