Jiaogulan

Jiaogulan is a perennial climbing vine of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, a relative of cucumbers and melons. Its thin stems grow 2–8 m long and climb with slender tendrils that split in two at the tip. Each leaf is divided like a bird’s foot into five to seven leaflets, sometimes three to nine, with finely toothed edges.

Male and female flowers grow on separate plants. They are tiny, about 5 mm across, star-shaped and greenish white, in loose sprays. Female plants carry round berries 5–6 mm across, black when ripe, usually with two seeds. In plants from Thailand the young fruits are often softly hairy.

The vine grows in forests, thickets and along roadsides on mountain slopes, from about 300 to 3,200 m. In Thailand it grows naturally in the northern highlands, for example on Doi Chiang Dao in Chiang Mai.

Jiaogulan’s written story begins not as a tea but as food for hard times. It became a tea much later.

1. 1406

   Food in a famine

   The Jiuhuang Bencao (救荒本草), a Ming-dynasty book of plants to gather and eat in a famine, describes the vine with its five leaflets and sweet-tasting leaves. They were boiled, rinsed and eaten with oil and salt.

2. Around 1980

   A sweet leaf in Japan

   Japanese researchers, first interested in amachazuru as a sweetener, find ginseng-like saponins in its leaves. Amachazuru tea briefly becomes a craze.

3. 1983

   Ginseng compounds in a gourd

   Takemoto and colleagues show that four of the plant’s saponins are identical to ginsenosides Rb1, Rb3, Rd and F2 from ginseng.

4. 1986

   A national programme

   China’s State Science and Technology Commission puts jiaogulan first on its list of valuable herbs to develop.

5. 2004

   A protected origin

   Jiaogulan from Pingli County in Shaanxi receives China’s protected geographical indication.

6. 2021

   In the Thai pharmacopoeia

   The Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia publishes a monograph on panchakhan (ปัญจขันธ์), the dried leafy parts of the vine.

Place and food culture

In China it is farmed in the Qinba mountains of Shaanxi and in Hunan, Guangxi and Sichuan, and drunk as an everyday tea. In northern Vietnam, giảo cổ lam comes from the mountains around Sa Pa and Hòa Bình, often brewed in a large pot and sipped through the day.

In northern Thailand, farmers in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son grow it for tea, from local strains named after their mountains, such as Doi Tung and Mae Salong, and from Chinese varieties.

Jiaogulan grows fast. Growers cut the vines a few months after planting, and the plants grow back for the next harvest. What goes into the pouch is the leafy top of the plant: leaves with some tender stem.

From vine to cup

1. About four months

   The first cut

   In Thai field trials the vines are cut about 30 cm above the ground, four to four and a half months after planting, when the yield is highest.

2. Young leaves

   The best part

   The plant makes most of its saponins in young leaves. In China, the tender shoot tips are sold on their own as “dragon’s beard”.

3. Drying

   Sun, shade or warm air

   The leaves are dried in the sun, in the shade or in warm air; in China some are first heated briefly, like green tea. About 1 kg of fresh vine gives roughly 140 g of dried tea.

4. Heat

   Gently does it

   Too much heat for too long turns the leaves brown. Drying in gentle warmth keeps them green.

Jiaogulan’s character comes from saponins called gypenosides. Scientists have described more than 200 of them in the plant. Some taste sweet, some bitter, and a few are identical to compounds from ginseng. How much of each a leaf contains depends on the type of plant, where it grows and how it is dried.

Jiaogulan and ginseng

Fresh

Leafy and green

Grassy

Clean herbal notes

Gently sweet

A sweet finish

Lightly bitter

A soft, pleasant edge

How to brew

1. Measure. 2 g of dried leaf, about one heaped teaspoon, for a 250 ml cup.
2. Steep. Use water just off the boil, 90–95 °C, and steep for 5 minutes, or up to 8 for a stronger cup. Longer steeping makes it more bitter.
3. Steep again. The same leaves give two or three more cups; steep each one a little longer.

Ways to use it

• Hot and plain, through the day
• Iced, with cucumber and lime
• Cold-brewed in the fridge overnight
• Blended with pandan or jasmine
• With lemongrass or fresh mint
• With a slice of lemon or a little honey

Jiaogulan iced tea with cucumber and lime

A simple home idea, not a traditional recipe; serves 2

• 4 g jiaogulan (2 heaped tsp)
• 500 ml water at 90–95 °C
• ½ cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 lime
• Ice
• Honey, to taste

Steep the leaves for 5 minutes, strain and let the tea cool. Fill two tall glasses with ice and cucumber slices, squeeze in half a lime each and pour over the tea. Sweeten lightly with honey if you like, and top up with sparkling water for a spritz.

More ideas

— simple home ideas, not traditional recipes

Studies in people

Four of the clearest human studies, with what they did and did not show:

Educational product information. Not medical advice. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or taking medication, consult your doctor before using a new botanical product.