Lavi Fair is held amidst a great deal of fanfare in Himachal Pradesh. Rampur had once been a very important commercial center and with passage of the time it became the venue for the famous age-old Lavi Fair, reputed to be one of the biggest trade fairs in Northern India. The fair is held every year in the second week of November (11th-14th).

Rampur lies along the ancient trade routes to Tibet, Ladakh and Afghanistan. It used to which had its borders well into Kinnaur.

During the reign of King Kesar Singh in the 18th century, a Treaty was signed between be the capital of the mighty Bushahr Empire, Rampur and Tibet.

It was decided that they would be friends till the time comes when all waters of River Sutlej evaporates and the crows change their colors into white. The fair was held to commemorate their friendship.

A modern touch made it all the more glorious and attractive, for the Lavi Fair has been brought back to entertain the weary and sullen men, burdened with their day to day jobs. Lavi Fair is a welcome relief for them.

Large crowds pour in from Kinnaur, Spiti and Lahaul.They gather on the banks of the Sutlej to buy, sell and barter their produce which includes everything from homespun blankets and wool shawls to dry fruit and even horses .

There are sporting competitions during the day, and dancing around bonfires after dark. The fair coincides with the return of the shepherds from high pastures for the coming winter and has been held for over 300 years.

The fair is also renowned for a variety of handicrafts. Thus the Lavi Fair in Himachal Pradesh is renowned for its excellence in bringing to the forefront the ancient Indian Culture.

Large number of traders are coming to the fair to sell a great range of Himachal Handicrafts & Handlooms ,in which the Pashmina shawls still adorn the royal class of the French as French Queen, Marie Antoinette aws very fond of the Himalayan wool products and as such the fair has already been recognized as an International Fair.

Stunning Pashmina Wool is an important item that is sold at the Lavi Fair. The Dry Fruits reminds us of the variety of agricultural products that can be grown in the Indian soil.

The well-known Chaumkhi Horses brought from remote tribal areas are sold at the Lavi Fair at Himachal Pradesh.

Apart from the Horses, woolen pattoos, kala zira and dry fruits (Walnuts,Pine Nuts,Almonds,Apricots-dry,Bitter apricot kernels) are also brought and sold in the Lavi Fair at Himachal Pradesh.

Chinese artifacts, such as jewellery, Chinese Jackets, Track Suites, Crockery, handicrafts, tea, herbs, heavy woolens and even ‘bushy Yak tails’ are expected to be displayed on the Tibetan and Kinnauri stalls .

This has been possible only after the establishment of an intimate trade relationship with China and Tibet.

Efforts have been made to restore the old glory of the fair and historic places, which recently has been given a modern touch.

Goji berry, also known as wolfberry in Western countries, is one of the most obscure, yet very useful and beneficial fruits known to mankind. The plant is considered near the characteristics of the species that include tomato, chili pepper, eggplant and potato. Goji berry was originally native to the small communities in southwest Asia, southeastern Europe and China. Nowadays, the plant is being cultivated in many parts of the world. And there are good reasons why.

Chinese medicine specialist Springherb is distributing different products that have been developed and made from the fruit. By visiting the store and checking out the product brochures, you would find several health products that are made out of Goji berry. Those products are the Wanbao Tea, also known as Ganoderma tea, the Goji powder and the sun-dried Goji.

Wanbao Tea is a Chinese herbal product that is comprising of ground leaves and parts of glossy ganoderma and some parts of the Goji. The tea, just like many other Chinese tea products, has known beneficial features to improve health by boosting the body’s immune system. Experts recommend the tea to aging and weak people. In alternative Chinese medicine, Wanbao tea is prescribed for children suffering from anemia. Cancer patients are also provided with nutritional requirements.

Goji berry is known to contain bioactive substances that could be helpful to maintain and improve health. Eating Goji berries is ideal to extract the nutrients the fruit contains. However, because the berry is not common to all countries and exporting and importing it would not be ideal, Chinese manufacturers have devised a way on how the nutrients could be preserved so that more people could benefit from the fruit. Goji powder is that product. The 100-gram bottle of powdered Goji is ideal for creating instant fruit juices.

If grapes can be sun-dried to produce raisins, the same process could be made to Goji berry. Available through Springherb is Sun-dried Goji. Experts say that all the important nutrients and minerals present in the fruit is excellently and conservatively preserved through the natural sun-drying process. Available in 500-gram packs, you could carry the product anywhere you go and eat it like ordinary snacks.

Overall, Goji berry has been present in the traditional Chinese way of medicine. The fruit has been used and prescribed to boost the immune system, to help improve and enhance the eyesight, to help protect and take care of the liver, to maintain good blood circulation and the boost sperm production among men. Nowadays, some people eat Goji and take Goji-made products to enhance libido and sexual stamina, through there is no approved therapeutic claim for the fruit.

Springherb is a Chinese medicine specialist that is operating actively within the United Kingdom market. Visit their headquarter and main store at Newark in Nottighamshire. The store has all the essential and really helpful Chinese herbal products. Acupuncture and massage services are also provided first hand. You can reach the company through telephone hotline at 01636-706892. Business hours start at 9:30 a.m. to 5:50 p.m. daily from Monday to Saturday.

You can also log in to the company’s official Website at http://www.springherb.co.uk/. In the online site, you could access and retrieve brochures about the products currently distributed as well as the corresponding price tags. There are also distribution promotional schemes that could be of great interest to you. If you want to make the best buys and deals in town, shop in and enjoy the best and most effective Chinese medicine products.

When people speak of exotic Chinese Herbs, we usually may not think of the common cooking ingredient called ginger as being one of these Chinese Herbs â?? but yes, it is. What we use as a cooking ingredient would be the so-called edible root of the plant which in reality is not a root but rather a rhizome. Though ginger is acknowledged to have its roots in China, this is one of the most commonly recognized Chinese Herbs around because ginger is now also cultivated widely in other Asian countries, India, West Africa, and even in the Caribbean.

The ginger plant itself has the scientific name of Zingiber officinale. The ginger rhizome is usually called the ginger root, and many cooks are familiar with the aroma of this rhizome because of the essential oils that contribute to its distinctive scent. Among Chinese Herbs, ginger can be said to have the unique capacity to stimulate saliva production in those who consume or even just taste it.

Chinese Herbs are often used in Chinese cuisine not just as a flavoring but also because of their reputed benefits to the body. You may find Chinese Herbs like ginger often employed in meat dishes and seafood dishes because of ginger can complement the flavor of the meat or seafood well. Among the Chinese Herbs, ginger can either be used as an extract (or when the juice is squeezed from the ginger root); as ginger powder for breads; as fresh ginger for cooking; and to add to certain recipes like gingerbread. You might be surprised to that Chinese Herbs like ginger can even be incorporated into popular drinks like ginger ale and ginger beer.

Western cuisine and medical treatment has already absorbed the practice of using some Chinese Herbs like ginger to make snacks (such as ginger snaps); or to spice up the Western-style hot tea or coffee. Though technically considered one of the main Chinese Herbs, ginger also goes by a variety of other names too because it is now widely cultivated in many other countries and widely used in their cuisine as well.

Chinese Herbs are often used for medical purposes and ginger is no exception to this rule. One reason Chinese Herbs are integrated as an ingredient of some medical preparations is to alter the taste of the product to make it more palatable to the patient consuming the medical product. Ginger is known to be effective against colic, dyspepsia and the common cold (which is why you might be advised to drink ginger powder as a tea.) However, as with all Chinese Herbs, you need to be cautious about ingesting ginger in combination with certain pharmaceutical products (particularly warfarin) because ginger may contraindicate with these medicine. Chinese Herbs like ginger may also produce health results that are far from those desired â?? for instance, ginger should never be taken by gallstone patients since ginger is known to make the gallbladder secrete bile instead. This counters the commonly held belief that Chinese Herbs may automatically be beneficial to your health.

Several years ago I cooked raw Chinese herbs at home until I learned enough about Chinese herbs to know better.  If you’ve ever had thoughts of cooking your own herbal remedies here’s what you need to consider before cooking herbs.

Traditionally, Chinese herbs were always cooked in a formula or group of herbs boiled in a water decoction process and then strained and drunk as a tea. Today, cooking herbs at home isn’t the most practical or safe approach to taking Chinese herbs as medicinals.

Cooking raw herbs might sound easy, but let’s explore some of what this entails.  First of all, when you buy raw Chinese herbs, do you know if your supplier has produced a COA (Certificate of Analysis) on the batch of raw herbs? COA’s list the results of testing for pesticide residue, heavy metals, and bacteria such as E-coli and other contaminants which might be on the herbs.  Do you know if the batch of raw herbs was rejected from a large herbal company because it did not pass heavy metal or pesticide test standards and ended up back on the wholesale market?  This is common-place in the wholesale world of Chinese herbs, and the biggest and best companies bid for the best raw herb products.

Secondly, do you know the difference between high quality Chinese Herbs and a lesser quality? When you are buying fruits in the market, you generally will pick through the bruised and damaged fruits.  You know what you’re looking for.  Can you say the same about your raw herbs?  Do you know the difference between a high quality red date (Da Zao) versus a low quality one?   Have the herbs been treated with sulfur to look fuller and plumper?   When you open your package of raw herbs, does the product look and smell fresh?  The same holds true for each raw herb you are purchasing.  There is a tremendous difference between a high quality Chinese herb product and lesser quality.  If you haven’t studied or spent any time investigating these differences, how do you know what you are buying?

Another important issue to consider is storage of raw herbs.  Unless you use your raw herbs quickly or store them in a refrigerator, bugs are bound to find their way into the herbs.  You will see little holes in roots and sometimes little worms or flies.  If you plan on cooking raw Chinese herbs at home, definitely give them a good washing before cooking and strain them well after cooking.  Plan on using them within a few months of purchasing them.

What about the cooking process itself?  Chinese Herbs have a variety of decoction cooking periods. You will want to be familiar with which herbs you are cooking and how long they should be cooked.  There is too much information about this subject to explore here.  In general, minerals and shells are cooked longer, sometimes as long as an hour.  Herbs such as mint (bo he) and Atractylodis Rhizoma (Cang Zhu) are cooked for only a few minutes.  These two herbs have highly volatile oil content which contains the active beneficial chemical constituents in the herbs, and when cooked for a longer period of time, the volatile oils are evaporated.

The temperature during the process of cooking Chinese herbs is another variable to consider.  Too high and you destroy active ingredients.  Too low and you don’t extract enough active ingredients.  Again, unless you have acquired a significant knowledge of herbs, most likely you will overcook your herbs.  That smell in the kitchen is probably the volatile oils evaporating into thin air.  Since typical home kitchens do not have fancy machines to capture volatile oils and reintroduce them back into the finished herb product, you will never be able to cook the same strength of product as a factory with high-tech equipment.  Additionally, some types of metal cookware can interfere with the active chemicals in various herbs. Traditionally, clay cookware was used.  Today, glass cookware is an option, although from my experience, glass is difficult to find.

Cooking your own Chinese herbs is probably not the best use of both your time and resources.  There are many excellent manufacturers of Chinese herbs to choose from with all the safety guards in place to ensure that you receive an effective and contaminant-free herb product.  Cooking at home just isn’t safe enough anymore.  Plus, there’s that little problem of the stench in the kitchen.

There are many options beyond taking capsules to consume Chinese herbal supplements.  Since capsules contain anywhere from 35%-50% filler  (inactive starch) you may want to check into other options for your herbal medicine.  Here are three you might want to consider.

Alcohol tinctures are made from herbs soaked in alcohol.  The cooking process varies with this modality.  This method has a not unpleasant taste, but Traditional Chinese Medicinal herbs were, and still are, cooked or decocted in water.  Clinical studies done in China for the past several decades reveal the proven effectiveness of herbs which have been cooked in a water decoction, not alcohol extracts.  The Traditional Chinese Medicine community does not have the research to back up alcohol tincture herb formulas.  Additionally, data such as herb to extract ratio is often not disclosed.  Since there is considerable difficultly in achieving a high concentration ratio through the alcohol extraction process,  along with the lack of research, it is presumptuous  to rely on the effectiveness of  this process of producing Chinese herb medicinals.

Another option when you are purchasing Chinese herbs is to take a ready-to-drink plastic pouch of vacuum-packed extracts.  This high-pressure cooking method pushes the decocted herbs into heat-resistant plastic pouches. This method is often referred to as the Korean system of herb extraction.  The cooking process for these pouches is similar to a home pressure cooker, otherwise known as a home herbal extractor.  This method is popular in both China and  the Koreas but is not very widespread with Americans.  The most likely reason this method has not gained popularity is that Americans generally do not like the taste of herbs.  These plastic pouches are equivalent to about one cup of liquid.  Drinking a brown herbal extract two or three times a day is simply beyond what most Americans will tolerate, even to benefit  their health.  This process of raw herb preparation is superior to the home stove top decoction process.  Yet the labor intensity of cooking and cleaning the machine, along with the overall expense of both the pressure cooker and packaging machine, limits its use.  The issue of volatile oil loss during the cooking process (same as the problem with the home stove top method) also limits the strength of the final products.  Another downside is that all raw herbs need to be added at the onset of cooking.  You are out of luck if you need to add aromatic herbs at the end of the cooking process, as there is simply no way to do this.

Another option for taking Chinese herbs is individual herb formula granules in individual packets.  The Chinese herbs in individual packets are fairly new to the US market but have been used in Asia for nearly ten years.  Chinese herb formula packets have the added benefit of  herbs which are cooked together.  This method preserves the proven efficacy of Chinese medicine.  Since the individual packets are air-tight, the herb granules stay fresh and do not clump, even without a starch or dextrin filler.  These Chinese herb formulas begin with a controlled low temperature cooking process which ensures that the maximum amount of beneficial active constituents are extracted from the herbs.  Volatile oils are captured with sophisticated equipment and reintroduced back into the finished products.  The decocted liquid is then dried into granules and packaged immediately for freshness.  No starch additives are needed in this type of packaging.  The major benefits are both the high concentration ratios of these products (as no filler is needed) and the ease of use.  These packets of granules can be carried easily and either poured on the tongue to swallow like a pill or mixed in water or juice to drink.  Formulas sold in packets can be easily used by the general public for many different conditions.

Taking the herbs on a daily basis is the most important thing.  So choose a mode of delivery that is convenient, yet effective.  Chinese herbal medicine is used by more than a billion people and has been used successfully for nearly two thousand years of recorded history.  You can improve your health and vitality with Chinese herbs, and sipping a cup of herb tea might be more enjoyable than popping all those capsules of filler.