Facts About Guilinggao
Guilinggao, also known as tortoise jelly or turtle jelly, is a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert. It was traditionally made from the gao, or paste of plastron from the turtle Cuora trifasciata and a variety of herbal products, in particular, China roots Smilax glabra. Although the golden coin turtle is commercially farmed in modern China, it is extremely expensive; therefore, even when turtle-derived ingredients are used in commercially available guilinggao, they come from other, more commonly available, turtle species.
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.
