1. Sun-dried ginseng

Appearance: the genuine ginseng is a spun cylinder, with transverse stripes on the shoulder of the main root and obvious longitudinal wrinkles, which gradually branches downward into 2-3 lateral roots, called ginseng legs, which are short and curved; There are many slender ginseng whiskers at the end.

color: the surface is grayish yellow and the cross section is light yellow.

taste: it has a special smell and tastes slightly sweet and bitter.

2. red ginseng

shape: the genuine product is cylindrical, with longitudinal grooves and wrinkles on the body surface, horizontal stripes at the root, and 2-3 twisted and crossed ginseng legs at the lower part, which is slightly textured.

color: the surface is translucent, reddish brown or crimson, and a little of the upper part of ginseng is opaque, showing dark yellow patches.

taste: it smells slightly fragrant, but tastes slightly sweet.

Common counterfeit products include: wild cowpea, Toona sinensis, wild lettuce, Shangde, Platycodon grandiflorum, scopolamine and so on. The main difference from the true ginseng is that there is no reed bowl in the rhizome, no ring pattern on the shoulders, rough epidermis in the root point of the ginseng body, and different smells are irritating.

The root of Solanaceae, Panax japonicus: It is produced in Huashan, Shaanxi and other places. After processing, it is brown, with one or several rhizomes at the top, hard and brittle, with fine radial texture on the cross section, slightly bitter, slightly numb and toxic. It often causes poisoning after taking it.

the root of cowpea, a leguminous plant, is in the form of a cone or spindle, with few branches, slightly flat curvature and no reed bowl. The surface is reddish-brown, with lateral light-colored lenticels and grooves, without the unique transverse stripes of ginseng, and the surface is fibrous when peeled off. The cross section is slightly 1-2 layers of brown rings. It's light and fishy.

The root of Phytolacca acinosa, a plant of Phytolacca acinosa, is cylindrical, less branched, plump and plump, and reddish brown. A cylindrical stem remains at the upper end, which is hollow (which can be distinguished from the reed head, one of the characteristics of ginseng). There are many layers of obvious light brown concentric rings in the cross section. The taste is slightly sweet and bitter, and the tongue is numb after long chewing. It is poisonous when used raw.

In addition to the above-mentioned common counterfeits, there are some inferior products, so it is not difficult to identify them as long as people identify them according to the basic characteristics of ginseng (such as whether there are reed heads, reed bowls, thin horizontal stripes, chrysanthemum patterns on cross sections, etc.).