Insam, Korean ginseng
A root long grown and handled in Korea. Straight out of the field it is susam; peeled and dried it is baeksam; steamed and dried over and over it is hongsam, red ginseng. It is also sorted by the years it grew, with six-year root written separately. In the herb market these names are on the labels at every shop. Shops in the herb market and at the airport sell teas and sweets made with insam.
Korean medicine writes down the nature and taste of each material first, and writes insam as warm in nature and sweet in taste. It then writes that the material is traditionally taken to be one used where gi is to be raised. Because steaming and drying change the role a material holds in a formula, susam, baeksam and hongsam are used separately. That is what the discipline writes in its own words, and we write nothing beyond it.
This note is not a consultation. Before buying something with insam in it, tell a Korean medicine doctor or a pharmacist what medicine you already take.