Basic Introduction to Anlu Ginkgo
Anlu Ginkgo is a specialty of Anlu City, Hubei Province, located in northeastern Hubei. There are over 20 varieties of Anlu Ginkgo, including plum kernel, potato-shaped, round, and Buddha's finger types, which are large and round, of excellent quality, and abundant in reserves.
Backed by the Dabie Mountains and Tongbai Mountains with the Shennongjia area as a natural barrier, Anlu has low mountainous hills that have preserved their original ecology, allowing ginkgo trees to thrive to this day. Anlu hosts China's largest cluster of ancient ginkgo trees, with more than 59 trees over a thousand years old and over 4,368 trees over a hundred years old. The sheer number and age of these ginkgo trees make Anlu known as the “Ginkgo Capital of China.”
Ginkgo nuts are named for their resemblance to small apricots and their white kernels, also known today as “white fruit.” Benefitting from the region's excellent geographical environment and natural conditions, Anlu Ginkgo nuts are characterized by their good shape, large size, white color, thin shell, full kernel, high kernel yield, and long shelf life. The local superior varieties, such as plum kernel and potato-shaped, have a long, spindle-shaped kernel with two longitudinal ridges, a thick waist, consistent size top to bottom, and symmetry left to right.
The kernels are fine-grained, tough, glutinous, sweet with a slight bitterness, and rich in the unique fragrance of ginkgo; they contain 16 essential amino acids and nine trace elements, as well as high levels of starch, total sugar, and protein, which are unique to Anlu.
Nutritional Value
Ginkgo nuts are rich in various nutrients, including starch, protein, fat, sugars, as well as vitamin C, riboflavin, carotene, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, magnesium, and other trace elements, along with ginkgolic acid, ginkgolides, pentose polysaccharides, and sterols. They offer therapeutic effects and medicinal benefits such as nourishing the lungs, treating coughs and wheezing, stopping vaginal discharge, reducing urination frequency, smoothing wrinkles, protecting blood vessels, and increasing blood flow. According to modern medical research, ginkgo can improve blood circulation, enhance brain function, slow down cognitive decline in the elderly, boost memory, treat Alzheimer's disease and cerebral insufficiency, and demonstrate anti-aging properties. These health benefits have gained significant scientific recognition in Germany and France. In addition, ginkgo can protect the liver, reduce arrhythmias, prevent fatal bronchoconstriction during allergic reactions, and be used in the treatment of asthma, transplant rejection, myocardial infarction, stroke, organ protection, and dialysis.
Product Characteristics
1. Sensory Characteristics: The seed coat is creamy white and glossy. The cooked kernel is fine-grained, tough, and glutinous, with a sweet taste and a slight bitterness.
2. Chemical Analysis: Kernel protein content ≥4.0%, kernel starch content ≥31%, kernel soluble sugar content ≥1.8%.
Historical Folklore
The “Book of Northern Zhou” records: “In times of drought, people would pray at Baizhao Mountain for rain,” and “after offerings were made, it would rain that very day, ensuring a bountiful autumn harvest.” Folklore tells of the ginkgo tree's roots reaching deep into Dragon Spring, giving it a “spiritual” quality. Every third day of the third lunar month, people from surrounding areas would climb Baizhao Mountain to pray, take some ginkgo fruits and leaves home, place them beside their pillows or boil them in water to drink. Whether sick or healthy, these practices were believed to heal illnesses and ward off disasters, seemingly always effective, making the tree a “sacred tree” in the eyes of the people. There was a custom of honoring the tree, where on the 30th day of the 12th lunar month, ancient ginkgo trees would be “offered incense, draped in red, and given bone broth,” believing that the ginkgo tree could bestow blessings and ensure household safety.
The “Anlu Ginkgo” record notes that during the Tang Dynasty, Anlu Ginkgo (white fruit) kernels were used medicinally for their heat-clearing, lung-astringent, breath-calming, and cough-stopping properties, as well as for culinary purposes, either stir-fried or sweetened. Thus, they became tributes to the imperial court. The “Dean Prefecture Annals” of the Qing Dynasty Daoguang period records: “There is a temple dedicated to the god Zhenwu, and there is one ginkgo tree that is hundreds of meters in circumference, being a thousand-year-old tree.” It is said that this tree was planted when the great Tang poet Li Bai, sword in hand, came to Anlu, married the granddaughter of the late chancellor Xu Yushi, and had a son and daughter. During his ten years of “alcoholic seclusion” in Anlu, he planted this tree.
Since the 1980s, Anlu City designated the ginkgo as its “city tree” and focused on developing it as a pillar industry, leading to rapid growth in ginkgo production.
In 1986, Anlu ginkgo expert Liu Yanjun developed the “short, dense, early-bearing” technology, changing the history of ginkgo trees bearing fruit after 20 years to producing fruit in just three years and yielding abundantly after five years, winning an award for technological breakthroughs in Hubei Province. Ginkgo trees are dioecious, directly impacting stable yields, but the successful trial and promotion of “artificial pollination” technology solved the problem of unstable yields and fruitless flowers. Various scientific projects such as “large-scale high-efficiency models,” “intercropping studies under ginkgo trees,” “high-yield ginkgo leaf projects,” and “large-scale demonstration projects” have all been successfully tested. In terms of ginkgo leaf extraction technology, the extraction of flavonoids meets a standard of no less than 24%, and the extraction of bilobalide meets a standard of no less than 6%.
In 2009, the Chinese Society of Forestry successfully hosted the “First China Ginkgo Festival” in Anlu.
Awards and Honors for Anlu Ginkgo
In 1998, Anlu Ginkgo won the Gold Award at the Hubei Famous, High-quality, and Special New Products Exhibition and Sale.
In 1999, Anlu Ginkgo was recognized as a “Hubei Prestigious Product” by the China International Agricultural Fair. That same year, it won a Silver Award at the Second International Tea Expo.
In March 2000, the State Forestry Administration bestowed the title of “China's Ginkgo Capital” upon Anlu.
In 2001, Anlu Ginkgo received the “Hubei High-quality Prestigious Product” award. That same year, it won a prize for quality products at the 2001 Beijing International Agricultural Expo.
On July 9, 2014, the original General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of China approved geographical indication product protection for “Anlu Ginkgo.”