Black ginseng: steamed nine times, on purpose

Red ginseng is steamed once. Black ginseng is steamed and sun-dried nine times, a process the old texts call 九蒸九曬. Each pass darkens the root and, more to the point, converts the ginsenosides into forms the body absorbs more readily — the rarer Rg3, Rg5 and Rk1 among them.

Nine times, not eight

Fewer cycles leave the conversion unfinished; more begin to char the root. Nine is where the traditional makers stopped, and where the modern assays agree the compound profile peaks — the "37× the ginsenosides of red" you will read on the box comes from those assays.

What is in a capsule

Imperial Treasure pairs the black ginseng with a botanical enzyme essence — more than eighty fermented plants — so the capsule works with digestion rather than against it. One capsule, once a day, with the morning tea.

Steamed nine times, sun-dried between — the root gives up nothing on the first pass.