Guilinggao

Guilinggao
Guilinggao
Traditional Chinese	龜苓膏
Simplified Chinese	龟苓膏
Literal meaning	turtle and Smilax glabra jelly
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	guī líng gāo
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	gwai1 ling4 gou1

Guilinggao
Alternative names	Tortoise Jelly, Turtle Jelly
Type	Pudding
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	China
Main ingredients	Plastron, Chinese herbs
	Media: Guilinggao;

Guilinggao (Chinese: 龜苓膏; pinyin: Guīlínggāo), also known as tortoise jelly (though not technically correct) or turtle powder, is a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert. It was traditionally made from the gao, or paste of the plastron (bottom shell) from the turtle Cuora trifasciata (commonly known as "three-lined box turtle", or "golden coin turtle", 金錢龜)^[1] and a variety of herbal products, in particular, China roots Smilax glabra (土伏苓, Tu fu ling).^[2]^[3] Although the critically endangered golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata) is commercially farmed in modern China, it is extremely expensive;^[4] therefore, even when turtle-derived ingredients are used in commercially available guilinggao, they come from other, more commonly available, turtle species.^[1]^[5]

More often, commercially available guilinggao sold as a dessert does not contain turtle shell powder. They share the same herbal additives as the medicine and are similarly marketed as being good for skin complexion when ingested.^[6]

^ ^a ^b Dharmananda, APPENDIX 1: "Golden Coin Turtle" (A report dated April 27, 2002 by ECES News (Earth Crash Earth Spirit)). Quote: "The popularity of turtle jelly can be seen in the success of Ng Yiu-ming. His chain of specialty stores has grown from one shop in 1991 to 68 today, in Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China. Ng also packs turtle jelly into portable containers sold at convenience stores. He insists no golden coin turtles are used. 'They're too expensive' he said. '... [I]f you know how to choose the herbal ingredients, jelly made from other kinds of turtles will be just as good.'"
^ "Medicinal Turtle Preparation". chelonia.org. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
^ Dharmananda, APPENDIX 3: "Tortoise Jelly (Turtle Jelly)"
^ Shi, Haitao; Parham, James F; Fan, Zhiyong; Hong, Meiling; Yin, Feng (2008-01-01), "Evidence for the massive scale of turtle farming in China", Oryx, vol. 42, Cambridge University Press, pp. 147–150, doi:10.1017/S0030605308000562 Also at http://sites.google.com/site/jfparham/2008Shi.pdf
^ Dharmananda, APPENDIX 2: "Softshell Turtle Farming". Quote: "Chinese softshell turtle used ... as a substitute ... for the golden coin turtle for making turtle jelly."
^ Lam, Nathalie (2013-10-09). "Turtle jelly not made from turtle?". Archived from the original on 2014-03-11. Retrieved 2017-08-30.

[dharma1-1] Dharmananda, APPENDIX 1: "Golden Coin Turtle" (A report dated April 27, 2002 by ECES News (Earth Crash Earth Spirit)). Quote: "The popularity of turtle jelly can be seen in the success of Ng Yiu-ming. His chain of specialty stores has grown from one shop in 1991 to 68 today, in Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China. Ng also packs turtle jelly into portable containers sold at convenience stores. He insists no golden coin turtles are used. 'They're too expensive' he said. '... [I]f you know how to choose the herbal ingredients, jelly made from other kinds of turtles will be just as good.'"

[chelonia-2] "Medicinal Turtle Preparation". chelonia.org. Retrieved August 30, 2018.

[dharma3-3] Dharmananda, APPENDIX 3: "Tortoise Jelly (Turtle Jelly)"

[scale-4] Shi, Haitao; Parham, James F; Fan, Zhiyong; Hong, Meiling; Yin, Feng (2008-01-01), "Evidence for the massive scale of turtle farming in China", Oryx, vol. 42, Cambridge University Press, pp. 147–150, doi:10.1017/S0030605308000562 Also at http://sites.google.com/site/jfparham/2008Shi.pdf

[dharma2-5] Dharmananda, APPENDIX 2: "Softshell Turtle Farming". Quote: "Chinese softshell turtle used ... as a substitute ... for the golden coin turtle for making turtle jelly."

[6] Lam, Nathalie (2013-10-09). "Turtle jelly not made from turtle?". Archived from the original on 2014-03-11. Retrieved 2017-08-30.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]