“Look! It’s huge!” shouts a muddy but beaming Han Myung-Ja, 52, plunging her hoe into the soil to unearth a giant ginseng root.
Ms Han fills a basket with the man-shaped root as she collects seasonal presents for family and friends – one of dozens of people doing the same at South Korea’s biggest ginseng festival.
The herb, known to Koreans as the “root of life” for its purported health-giving properties, grows wild in deep valleys and on shaded hillsides and has also been cultivated on the peninsula for 1,500 years.
Devotees say the herb increases resistance to stress and fatigue, has an aphrodisiac quality and acts as a stimulant, although it has proved difficult scientifically to prove some of the claimed benefits.
Last year South Korea produced 27,460 tonnes of ginseng roots, worth about €547 million including exports valued at more than €16 million.
Geumsan county, 130 kilometres south of Seoul, is the hub of the industry. Its ginseng market operates year-round and accounts for 80 per cent of all the country’s trades.
Geumsan also draws almost a million visitors every year to its ginseng festival, which precedes the major holiday of Chuseok (thanksgiving) at which the root is a prized gift.
The festival earned about $76 million last year, including $27 million in sales of raw ginseng and $13 million spent at an expo of various products based on the herb.
“Our county is where ginseng was first found – according to legend – and ginseng here is of good quality due to the nutritious soil and the right amount of sunshine,” county mayor Park Dong-Cheol said.
The event involved a lot more than digging up roots. In a food competition, chefs ranging from soldiers to students were encouraged to be creative.
Among a variety of other dishes, rolls filled with ginseng and vegetables are used to decorate models of traditional Korean homes.
“It looks delicious and beautiful,” said Russian visitor Anna Krasnova, 22. Casual visitors could try out various products for free, while traders haggled over large orders at a ginseng expo before signing contracts.
“We sell a lot here. I came last year and I plan to come next year as well because of the large number of visitors,” said Lee Hyo-Jin, who retails ginseng jelly and snacks.
During the expo, more than 150 tonnes of ginseng products were sold daily to both locals and foreigners.
The festival also offered visitors a chance to dig for the roots, a free health examination, ginseng facial masks for beauty, massages involving a form of ginseng aromatherapy and foot baths in water flavoured by the herb.