| Origin | Gynostemma pentaphyllum, also called Jiaogulan is an herbaceous vine of the family Cucurbitaceae (cucumber or gourd family) indigenous to the southern reaches of China, Japan and Thailand. The jiagoulan is imported from Guangxi region in China and is 100 % wild harvested and contains only the leaves of the plant without stems. | ||||||||||
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| Instructions for use | Jiaogulan tastes naturally sweet and bears resemblance to liquorice; the longer the tea brews the sweater he gets. Delicious cold as well as warm. For one cup, use 1 teaspoon Jiaogulan in pure hot water, let brew for 3 at 5 minutes. Also used as course of a 3 months treatment; drink 4 to 8 cups of tea daily. We offer you a tea with only leaves and no stalks. | ||||||||||
| Alternate names | The Chinese name is Xiancao, literally immortal grass or herb of immortality’. In English: five-leaf ginseng, poor man ginseng, miracle grass. The Japanese call Jiaogulan Amachazuru literally, sweet tea vine. | ||||||||||
| History | In China the earliest information available on Jiaogulan dates back to the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) The plant was used as food or as a dietary supplement. Around 1578 the first information about therapeutic effects was described. In the mountainous regions of Southern china, Jiaogulan has been used as an energizing agent: they would take it as a tea before work to increase endurance and strength and after work to relieve fatigue and described it thus ‘like ginseng but better than ginseng’. A story states that in a village near Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou province, the inhabitants would drink Jiaogulan tea instead of the more common green tea and as a result many people there were living to 100 years of age. So they called Jiaogulan ‘immortality herb’. From the seventies Jiaogulan has been included in the more recent 'Dictionary of Chinese Materia Medica', where it describes the traditional uses for Jiaogulan as a medicine. There it is prescribed for anti-inflammation, detoxification and cough remedy and as an expectorant and chronic bronchitis remedy. In the 1960s in Japan there was a trend amongst some research scientists to find an alternative sweetener to sugar. Research revealed that Jiaogulan contained four kinds of saponins exactly like those in Panax Ginseng and seventeen other kinds of saponins very similar to those in Panax Ginseng. Researchers identified and named 82 saponins from Jiaogulan, whereas Panax Ginseng has been found to have up to 28 saponins. In Panax Ginseng the saponins are called ginsenosides, in Jiaogulan, they are called gypenosides. In studies Jiaogulan would prove to be a powerful adaptogen, providing antioxidant protection for cells and membranes as well as health-promoting benefits in heart functions, liver disease, blood pressure, bronchitis, reducing cholesterol, arteriosclerosis and strokes. | ||||||||||
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