Spring Wind Herbs

At Spring Wind we seek out the best quality of herbs available at any given time and spend considerable resources assuring that each herb is what we say it is. As Spring Wind expands its lines of Organic and Premium Grade herbs we gain more direct connections with the growers of our herbs. This helps us to increase the transparency of our sourcing and aids in our goal of providing carefully grown, correctly identified Chinese herbs. The highlights of our herb program can be summarized as follows:

Correct species - We put great effort into correctly identifying the species of the items we sell. This is a science which we are still perfecting even though we have been at it for almost 20 years. Macroscopic and microscopic examinations are employed to compliment other organoleptic (sense-derived) data such as smell and taste in determining species identification. We use the Chinese Pharmacopeia for verification where the given herb is listed in that text. For the few herbs that require chemical analysis to reliably determine correct identification we rely on laboratory testing.

Quality evaluations - We purchase herbs in small batches. This insures that Spring Wind herbs are fresh. We obtain samples of each lot before purchase to ensure the quality meets our strict standards. Herbs must be clean, fresh and of good color and sapor to meet our rigorous inspection. We use herb-specific criteria when evaluating quality. For example, Niu Bang Zi (Arctium seed) is best when the seed is plump and carries no seed husk, high quality fresh Bai Zi Ren (Biotae seed) is oily and is a light-yellow color and Yan Hu Suo (Corydalis) is best if it is large, firm and its cross-section is golden-yellow. We use vacuum packing to insure freshness for herbs for which this is required.

Rigorous testing - Spring Wind has the most rigorous pesticide testing program in the industry.¹ We accept only a ND (none detected) result on our pesticide tests. Our sulfur-free herbs are tested either by in-house vapor testing (limit of 1.0 ppm) or by lab titration for sulfites (ND only).

Customer support - Should you have a question about herb quality, preparation, proper use or anything else, please give us a call. We are practitioners of Chinese medicine and love talking about our herbs. We are practitioner-owned and run and proud to bring quality herbs and informative service to the practitioner community.

Grade Definitions for Spring Wind Bulk Herbs

All Spring Wind herbs are carefully chosen. Depending on availability we have five grades of herbs.

Premium Grade

Spring Wind Premium Grade herbs are high quality herbs that meet the following requirements:

1. No detected pesticides. (We test for at least 135 pesticides and in most cases over 250 pesticides²). Each lot is tested and tracked. Testing is done by an independent laboratory in either the US or Germany.

2. Sulfur dioxide - we test each lot for SO2 via vapor sampling and accept only readings of 1.0 ppm or less. The choice of this level of testing is to allow naturally occurring SO2 (a natural result of decaying plant matter) yet rule out added sulfur gassing. Some of our suppliers do titration testing for sulfites. We also accept a non-detection result from this test for our Premium Grade herbs.

3. Though we have not yet had occasion to do so, if we have any reason to suspect contamination by other substances we test for them as well.

Pesticide Free (aka Tested)

No detected pesticides. (We test for at least 135 pesticides and in most cases over 250 pesticides). Each lot is tested and tracked. Testing is done by an independent laboratory. For herbs that we discover frequently contain pesticides not included on our extensive screen we add the suspected pesticide to the general screen.³

Organic

Organic herbs are grown without chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Spring Wind is certified by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and all organic products are compliant with the USDA NOP (National Organic Program). Our organic herbs also go through an independent pesticide screening. We whole-heartedly support organic farming not only for the purity of the herbs but for the benefit it provides for the people doing the farming and for the environment in general. We feel the holistic approach to healing that characterizes Chinese medicine begins with an attitude that treats the earth with respect and the realization that the health of the environment and the health of the body are not separate.

Grown without Pesticides

We carry a small number of herbs that are nationally certified organic by Taiwan but have not been certified by an international certifying agency. We choose to support the small farmers in Taiwan who grow these herbs and do not have the financial resources to gain an international certification which can be quite expensive for a small grower. While these herbs are sold as organic locally, they cannot be labeled organic in the US.

Conventional (aka Standard)

We carry conventional herbs for those varieties of herbs of which we sell very few. It is impractical to put these herbs into one of our other programs. For example, testing an herb of which we sell only five pounds a year would require us to increase the price of each pound by at least fifty dollars (sometimes we test these herbs anyway and try to make up the loss on other items). Occasionally, we are between lots of another grade of herb and purchase some herbs to tide us over until a lot of organic or premium herbs arrive. In no case, would we do this for herbs in which we have seen a history of pesticide residues. Once an herb has been found to have a detected pesticide we will only carry that herb as Premium, Tested or Organic. For example, in the past several years we have often been unable to purchase Jin Yin Hua (Lonicera flowers) without pesticides and thus only carry it when it can meet our Premium, Tested or Organic standards. This principle holds true even for infrequently used items. If we determine that they are grown with pesticides we will not sell them unless we are able to procure a tested lot.

Footnotes:

1 We have two standard testing protocols. The first tests for the following classes of pesticides: organophosphates, chlorinated hydrocarbons, methyl carbamates, organonitrogens and pyrethroids (over 250 pesticides total). The second tests for organophosphates, organochlorines, pyrethroids and the pesticide potentiator, Piperonyl butoxide (over 135 pesticides total).

2 See footnote number one above. The test used depends on the origin of the herbs.

3 For example, in the 2008 summer harvest of Gou Qi Zi (Lycium fruit) our sources informed us that two new pesticides were being commonly used on this product in China. More than 10 lots of Gou Qi Zi were tested before we found one that did not contain these pesticides. Despite the thoroughness of our normal testing, had we not gone to the trouble of adding special tests to find these new pesticides we would not have detected them.