Red Ginseng, White Ginseng: A Distinction the Donguibogam Doesn't Quite Make Yet

Red ginseng is often assumed to be an ancient part of the Donguibogam tradition. The more accurate story is a bit more interesting: it's largely a later development.

Red ginseng (紅蔘) is so strongly associated with Korean ginseng culture today that it's easy to assume the Donguibogam itself describes the red-versus-white distinction in detail. It's worth being precise here, since this is a case where popular association runs ahead of what the 1613 text actually documents.

What the classical entry actually says

The Donguibogam's ginseng entry, as we cover on its herb page, focuses on habitat, the identification verse, storage against insect damage, and the requirement to remove the root head before use. It does not lay out a red-versus-white processing distinction as two named preparations the way it does, for instance, with raw versus honey-roasted licorice.

Where the red-ginseng tradition actually comes from

The technique behind red ginseng — steaming the root without peeling it, then drying it until it turns a deep reddish-brown — became prominent in Korea in the centuries following the Donguibogam's publication, closely tied to the ginseng trade centered on Gaeseong. Steaming and drying produced a more durable product, better suited to long-distance trade than fresh or simply dried root, and merchants built a substantial export industry around it.

Two products, one plant, one continuous tradition

None of this makes red ginseng somehow less legitimate — it reflects the same underlying tradition of processing (beopje) we describe in our column on the subject, continuing to develop after the Donguibogam rather than stopping with it. We simply think it's worth being accurate about which parts of what you might have heard about ginseng trace directly to the 1613 text, and which developed afterward.