10/08/2024
Panax Quinquefolious Ginseng (aka North American Ginseng or NAG) is native to Canada and is one of our oldest trades. Ginseng was found growing in the early 1700s near Montreal by a Jesuit Priest and has been used as a valued trade for 300 years.
European settlers shipped so much wild Canadian grown North American ginseng to Asia that by the end of the 19th century it was almost extinct in Ontario. Ginseng is considered an Endangered Species and is therefore regulated under the Species At Risk Act. From 1880 to 1960 the ginseng trade experienced many ups and downs for reasons as diverse as blight and world wars but since the 1960s the trade in NAG has been growing steadily. Ginseng at one time was field grown in British Columbia and attempts were made in Prince Edward Island. However, today the bulk of the world’s North American ginseng comes from Ontario’s fertile soil, grown by independent farmers in former to***co fields, under thick black shades that mimic a forest’s canopy.