In popular Kung Fu movies and books, when a fighter is injured and needs a magic potion to instantly heal him in a heartbeat to be ready to defeat the villain, the hero usually drinks an elixir containing hard-to-get mystical ingredients that sound more exotic than the story itself.

While people have travelled the globe looking for these ingredients, when it comes to martial arts and Kung Fu, the truth to these mysterious ingredients are a bit more down-to-earth and accessible.

When it comes to fortifying one's chi and inner energy, one such ingredient that has been proven to work is ginseng.

Traditionally in Europe, ginseng has been known throughout the centuries as mandrake root. Ginseng is its Chinese name. And it is native to Asia, Europe and North America. For further more technical reading, please start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginseng

Now ginseng in terms of taste, isn't everybody's cup of tea. And drinking ginseng as a daily herbal infusion isn't recommended under traditional Chinese medicine: For a lot of people ginseng has too much 'fire' in it. Meaning that once consumed the person's body tends to get too hot in terms of sensations like when eating ginger or real cinnamon.

For those wishing to try ginseng but can't stomach the taste, why not try Kung Fu Ginseng Chicken Soup (功夫人蔘雞湯)?

Essentially it is chicken soup with ginseng, jujube, wolfberries and seasoned to taste. Wolfberries is good for the eyes. Jujube is known as blood nourishing. Ginseng is for recharging one's chi. And while some people claim chicken soup does wonders for their cold, the fact that it is chicken means that we can all agree that it's gonna taste really good!

The soup can be eaten by itself, or with noodles, or even as a side-dish /entree. It doesn't matter.

At other times, the Kung Fu master may not care for soup and maybe he has a love for wine. Hence in China and other Asian countries you can find Ginseng Wine like the well-known Jinpai.

This is the wine, the master drinks to instantly become the greatest hero that ever walked the Middle Kingdom. That part of the story has to be experienced for yourself to know whether it is true or not.