Korea Red Ginseng Corporation Welcome to the homepage.

The manufacture method of Taegeuksam was originated from Japan. They knew that they could not compete with Korean red ginseng and also that in Korea, private sector was not allowed to steam ginsengs to manufacture red ginsengs because of the national monopoly. So, Japanese people began to produce half-boiled ginsengs, which were called Tangtongsam as they were cooked of the whole body, Later, they called them Yudoshi and exported the whole quantity to Hong Kong.

Then, the Korean private sectors protested the government that the monopoly benefits Japanese people only. As such, since 1974, the government allowed the Korean private sector to manufacture Taegeuksam, of which name was Yudoshi, in Japanese. Later, with the revision of the Ginseng Industry Law, it was renamed ad Goryeo Taegeuksam. The whole amount of Goryeo Taegeuksam was also exported to pan-Chinese area, which made it rare in Korea.
Then, the manufacturers of Taegeuksam promoted of it recently and began to have gradual increase of Korean consumption as well, letting Taegeuksam known around the country.

Originally, the law stated of the manufacturing method of Goryeo Taegeuksam that they needed to steam ginsengs for 80 minutes in boiling water at temperature of 92°C before dry them. Along with the increase in exports, however, the regulation allowed to steam ginsengs with steam, not dipping into or steaming with boiling water. As such, currently, they usually steam with steam for 1 hour to 1 hour and a half.

That is, Taegeuksam is around the half in between red ginsengs and white ginsengs. The feature of a Taegeuksam is that they remove all the rootlets and branches, too, to remain the body only. This was requested by overseas buyers as they wanted to cut the body to eat.

Therefore, Taegeuksams are classified into simply 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Their face color must be yellow, differently from red ginsengs. As they wanted yellow color, the products are made via a shorter steaming time.
Also, as the legs are cut to leave the body only, they usually use 4 year ginsengs which are grown in one place without a transplanting, differently from other ginsengs.