How to distinguish real and fake bear bile?

I know that bear bile can cure many diseases. This product is sold a lot in Hanoi, but I don’t know how to distinguish real bear bile from fake.

1. Dried bear bile:

Real gall has a long, flat, oval-shaped sac with a bulging bottom. The gall bladder is about 10-12 cm long, 5-10 cm wide, with a dark brown or dark gray appearance, shiny, the sac wall is about 1 mm thick, wrinkled and tough, and can be torn lengthwise into fibers by hand.

When examined under light, the gallbladder is transparent. The dried bile in the gallbladder (called the nucleus) is small, irregular grains with inconsistent color. Some grains are amber, shiny, light and brittle. Some grains are black, tough, hard and lumpy. Some grains are yellow-green, slightly dull. Under fluorescent light, bear bile grains have a yellow-white light.

Good bear bile should be spongy and crunchy, and when rubbed lightly with two fingers, it should make a crackling sound. The granules should be shiny and not sticky to the hands. Real bear bile has a distinctive aroma, slightly fishy, ​​does not stick to the teeth, and tastes very bitter, followed by a slightly sweet feeling on the tongue.

When a grain of bear bile is put into a bowl of water, the bile slowly rotates into a yellow thread, then sinks and dissolves, leaving no residue. When burned, the bile grain swells up, has no fishy smell and is not burnt.

2. Prepared bear bile:

1% bear bile solution in 7% acetic acid is transparent yellow, under fluorescent light it is still white-yellow, after 8 hours it becomes pale opaque, after 24 hours it becomes dark green or greenish black.

In addition, bear bile can be recognized by the following characteristics: Bear bile is larger than normal, heavier or does not have the characteristics mentioned above. Sellers can also fake it with pig bile, cow bile or pig bladder, you should refer to the above details to distinguish.

According to Lao Dong Newspaper - NT