Guilinggao (Chinese: 龜苓膏; pinyin: Guīlínggāo), literal translated as tortoise jelly (though not technically correct) or turtle powder, is a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert. It was traditionally made from the gao, or paste of the plastron (bottom shell) from the turtle Cuora trifasciata (commonly known as "three-lined box turtle", or "golden coin turtle", 金錢龜) and a variety of herbal products, in particular, China roots Smilax glabra (土伏苓, Tu fu ling).
Although the critically endangered golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata) 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.
