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Recommended by Dr. Oz on Oprah, "They're the most potent antioxidant fruit that we know." ... "They improve vitality... which helps you live longer." (I'll explain more about that below)
Please sit back, relax, and let me give you the real lowdown about the Goji berry.
Bookmark this page. You'll be glad you did. It might be hard to find it again later.
Goji Berry Myths That Cost You
The Goji berry is a healthy powerhouse. But there seem to be some common misconceptions about Gojis that have been perpetuated that help some people take lots of (your) money.
Many of these misconceptions were spread by some high powered marketing types who figured you'd never know they were just i nventing tall tales. Let's take a look at these made up myths.
For example, some might have you believe there's something magical about "Tibetan" Goji Berries" as compared to Goji berries grown anywhere else in the world. Maybe it's because the air and water are supposed to be extra pure because of magical monk chants echoing up and down the mountainsides.
Goji berries aren't magical, but they are a wonderful food.
There are lots of Goji berry myths. Remember, myths sell berries at high prices.
Let's look at some of these myths...
Are All Goji Berries "Tibetan?"
Approximately 60 million pounds (30,000 tons) of Goji berries are grown every year in the whole world. This does not always meet the demand, especially when the harvest is poor, as it was this year.
About 20,000 pounds of them are actually grown in Tibet itself. That's about .03 %. This is a drop in the bucket for worldwide demand.
The chances of you actually getting genuine Tibetan Goji berries (grown in Tibet) are slim, no matter what the ads say.
The phrase "Tibetan Goji" is recently invented, and you sure do see it in lots of advertising. Some people spell it "Gogi," which is closer to the Chinese pronunciation, with the accent on the second syllable. The Chinese word for the plant is SPANgo(uqi( and go(uqi(zi for the berry.
A much more accurate generic term would be "Wolfberry," which is what it has been called for centuries all over the planet. Wolfberry is the common name of the species Lycium Barbarum (Goji Berry).
Wolfberries grow well in many climates. In England they are also known as boxthorn.
Why are they called wolfberries?
I could tell you a wonderful story about how wolves love to feast on them at the full moon... see how easy it is to create a myth? Actually, it is suspected that the term "WOLF" was used, perhaps erroneously, because the Greek word Lycos means wolf, and the Latin name of the plant, as mentioned above, is Lycium.
Lycos, Lycium...wolf.
But "wolfberry" isn't nearly as magical-sounding as "Tibetan Goji," is it? Because of intensive exploitation, "Tibetan Goji" has become a sort of generic term among the marketing set.
Let's look at it this way. Would you pay 2 or 3 times as much for blueberries because someone decided to change their name to "Fairy Godmother Berries?" Or how about because they were grown downwind from a monastery?
If so, there's some really nice land near Disney World you can probably get for a really special price... just for you, of course.
Let me put it another way. When you grab the blueberries, or whatever the fruit of the season is, do you look to see if they come from 'New Jersey' or 'California,' or even 'Mexico'. Do you really care? Most people don't.
So, just because Tibet is well known as a place of enlightenment, are you going to buy the fantasy that all of a sudden Tibetan Goji berries are the straight path to your healthy enlightenment?
Lycium Barbarum - A Versatile Fruit
Lycium Barbarum is the Latin name for our Goji berries, which are also known as Wolfberries.
Although there are about 80 different varieties of Chinese wolfberries, most of them have a very similar nutritional profile when they're dried. Some fast buck artists would have you believe there is such a thing as a "super duper Goji berry."
It's a shame that they have to take an already amazing fruit and try to stretch the truth. However, it's well documented that the berries come in different qualities.
Two regions in the world produce the highest quality Goji berries (Lycium Barbarum): Ningxia Province and Xinjiang Province, both in northwestern China. The soil here is very rich. It is a lower altitude by far than the Himalayan peaks, but it's still in the mountains. There's very little pollution, especially as compared to lower elevations in China.
Since the Himalayan mountains in Tibet are extremely inhospitable to growing crops of any kind, the myth of Goji berries being from Tibet has gotten a lot of mileage from a romantic notion not based in reality. Nothing much grows on snow and ice covered peaks.
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Are "Wild Crafted" Goji Berries for Real?
This brings us to the subject of "wild crafted" berries. Many ads for Gojis announce that they are wild crafted, and therefore quite unique and especially nutritious.
I see the picture in my mind's eye now: barefoot native Tibetans scaling Himalayan peaks with hand woven cloth bags over their shoulders, plucking succulent ripe red berries from hard-to-reach bushes that cling to steep slopes, then walking miles back to their villages, barefoot, fording raging rivers along the way, where the berries are transferred to a bicycle to be ridden 68 miles to a larger village...
The fact is that Goji berries are quite fragile. If the fresh berries are touched by human hands, they turn black. Therefore, Goji pickers spread sheets of fabric or wide trays under the bushes during harvest and shake them gently until the ripe berries fall.
Are these "wild crafted" berries organic, too? You bet. Wild crafted is by definition organic; in fact, better than organic.
Genuine wild crafted berries of any kind (blueberries, raspberries, huckleberries, etc.) for sale are quite rare because they are very difficult and expensive to collect. This is true even if you have cheap labor.
In fact, wild crafted anything is really hard to come by. Do you buy exclusively wild crafted foods? Chestnuts to roast over your open fire?
Good luck finding them. How about some nice wild crafted squash, picked wild in the woods? All over the market shelves, right?
Herbs? Do the supermarket people go out in the woods to find them and then dry them for you? Er, I don't think so. Stalk the wild asparagus, anybody?
Once I picked up some piñon nuts off the ground. Got lots of stickers in my fingers! Truffles? Now those truly ARE wild crafted. That's why they're so expensive (try $700-$3,000/lb.)
When I was growing up in Pennsylvania, I often went into the woods to pick wild blueberries. It is extremely hard to pick enough of them for more than one round of blueberry pancakes and a big handful of berries on everybody's ice cream dessert because you have to wander all over the woods and marshes to find enough berries and you eat most of them as you go.
It's a similar situation with "wild crafted" Goji berries. In all likelihood, something got lost in translation when somebody claims their Goji berries are "wild crafted."
The real picture is more like this: Goji berry plantations have been developed in various areas of China. Labor is inexpensive. Berries are easily inspected for purity.
Growth is concentrated and therefore efficient. How else is production going to reach that 30,000 tons per year, with the demand growing all the time?
There are plenty of blueberry "plantations" in the U.S., usually known as farms. Many are organic, because that's what folks want. As more and more people become aware of what pesticides do to our bodies, more and more people insist on organic.
It's no more difficult to farm berries organically in the U.S. than it is in China. But, just as in China, it IS more cost effective. |
How About "Sun-Dried" - What Does That Mean?
 What's so great about sun-dried? If not sun-dried, then what?
Well, oven dried. Oven drying is quicker, but it harms the nutrients, greatly reducing their quality and efficacy
Usually, good quality Goji berries are sun dried, as are ours. However, once again, let's get real. If it's a rainy fall, the berries may have to be moved into barns to dry.
It's unlikely anyone can guarantee that the berries are sun dried, because in some seasons drying them is impractical.
One of the exaggerations I've heard is that the Goji berry has 200 times the Vitamin C content of oranges. While this may be true of some fresh berries, drying them reduces the Vitamin C content. But even then, the Goji berry is an excellent source of Vitamin C and many other nutrients.
Just as raisins are dried grapes and prunes are dried plums, dried Gojis come from fresh ones. You just can't buy fresh Gojis yet in the U.S., except maybe in Chinatown in San Francisco or L.A.
How about growing your own? They're not hard to grow. High quality, sun dried Goji berries such as ours will germinate. So grow your own.
But in the meantime, buy some dried in bulk so you can have some to chow down on while your seedlings sprout.
Soak Your Berries
SPANWe have the sun ‘squeeze’ every last drop of moisture out of our berries so you get the most berries for your money. *BUT* you may not like them so dry. There’s a quick and easy way to make them softer and more chewy.
SPANSpread ONE DAY’s * worth of your berries out on a plate and spray them with pure water. This will make them soften right up.
SPANGive ONE DAY’s * worth of your berries a quick “plunge” bath in pure water. WAIT! Don’t throw that nutritious water away! Drink it, or use it for tea. This bath will make the berries rehydrate and become crunchy, as they are now.
SPANOPTIONALSPAN: Let the berries soak longer. *BEWARE: Berries may grow mold or start to ferment if they soak more than one day.
Goji Berries Last Indefinitely On the Shelf
How long will these dried Goji berries keep on the shelf after you buy them? My answer is that if they don't get wet and aren't exposed to open air, they SPANwill keep for many months, even years.
They'll last indefinitely.
They're a lot like raisins, but not at all sticky and not as sweet.
SPANThese berries are dried, like raisins and other dried fruits, so it’s not necessary to refrigerate them. However, the climate you live in can affect your decision about how to store them. In dry climates, they can be stored anywhere you would store food. If you live in a humid climate without air conditioning, consider refrigerating them.
Are Tibetan Goji Berries Really Sweeter than Other Gojis?
Here's another myth I hear a lot about: wild crafted Tibetan Gojis are sweeter; all other varieties are more bitter. Now, this is certainly a matter of opinion. I know people who say the Mongolian Gojis are the sweetest.
Think of my little wild blueberries in Pennsylvania. Now they are yummy. They're completely different from the large, plump, juicy blueberries you get at the supermarket.
You know what? I love both kinds. They are both authentic blueberries, just different varieties. But as long as the supermarket ones are organic too, the nutritional value is the same, really fantastic, really high in antioxidants. Hey, you can buy dried blueberries nowadays, too.
It's no different with Goji berries.
And there are many different varieties of blueberries grown all over the U.S., and nobody claims one is sweeter than another, but they do vary as to taste, as do Gojis.
All yummy!
Why Goji Berries Are So Good for You
Now that we've separated fact from fiction, let's see what the Goji berry can do for you.
You wouldn't be reading this if you didn't already know that Goji berries are little nuggets of nutritional power. They are super fruits in a humble little package.
Goji berries have been used as a medicinal food for over 1900 years in China. This red raisin-sized fruit is celebrated as the "happy berry" in the main growing region there in an annual festival.
Goji berries are not as sweet as raisins and have a more "nutty" taste. They're more tart than raisins, between a cherry and a cranberry.
Aside: One day, I found a few ounces of Goji Berries mysteriously missing from an open bowl. The mystery was solved when I noticed one of my cats chowing down on the berries like it was cat food. I guess the "happy berry" even makes cats happy. Animals instinctively know what's good for them.
Recently, science has discovered exactly why these berries have been used as a super fruit since ancient times.
- Goji Berries are antioxidant superfoods. Antioxidants stop the aging process in its tracks.
- Goji Berries strengthen the immune system. Who else would like to have fewer colds, flu's and whatever other bad bugs might be trying to make the rounds. You don't need that kind of misery.
- Goji Berries promote cardiovascular health by normalizing blood pressure. Getting a heart attack could really ruin your day. Let's not go there, OK?
- Goji Berries nourish the blood. This prevents and can even reverse anemia.
- Goji Berries increase the production of white blood cells. You need these to fight all kinds of infections.
- Goji Berries reduce inflammation. Inflammation is an important part of most chronic diseases. Reducing inflammation reduces pain.
- Goji Berries strengthen the liver. You need your liver more than ever these days because it saves you from bad food, bad environmental toxins and just plain having a bad day.
- Goji Berries increase your endurance. Work out harder and longer and recover more quickly. Athletes take note.
- On the subject of endurance, Goji berries are good for what all those emails you've been getting called "men's health" are about. Don't say you haven't been warned. When your male sex hormone levels go up, something else goes up with greater ease as well. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
- Goji berries may delay the onset of diabetes. This disease is growing at epidemic rates, and if you are eating a "Standard American Diet" (SAD) you are most certainly at risk.
- Goji Berries contain 18 amino acids, including 8 essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are called "essential" because you cannot live without eating them.
- Goji Berries are 15% protein, which is more protein than whole wheat. You need protein to rebuild the body and to keep a strong immune system.
- Goji Berries contain 21 essential minerals, among them iron for the blood, zinc for cell repair and reproductive health, and selenium, which works with vitamin E as an antioxidant.
- Goji Berries improve your mood. They can make you feel more optimistic and give you a renewed zest for life. That's why they are called the "happy berry."
- Goji Berries not only let you enjoy your day more, they let you sleep better at night as well.
Last, and by no means least, each Goji berry helps your eyes so you can continue to enjoy the miracle of sight.
So use your eyes and keep reading so you can learn more about why the Goji berry is so special.
What's the Real Secret Ingredient in Goji Berries That Makes Them So Healthy?
Fair warning... in this paragraph we're going to use some scientific sounding terms. This will give you a flavor for the science behind the healthful benefits of Goji berries. But if you are more interested in the flavor of the Goji berry than the science, you can skip ahead to discover how to eat this yummy berry.
The list of healthy benefits of Goji berries above is quite impressive, but it does not get to the real heart of the matter. Goji berries contain some rather exotic sounding organic compounds such as :
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tetraterpenoids
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zeaxanthine
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physalein
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sesquiterpenoids
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cyperone
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solavetivone
These compounds have powerful anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects.
But the real power of the Goji berry seems to be in the special sugars that are only produced by this little red berry. These sugars, called polysaccharides, are essential for the best working of your immune system.
The immune system is the part of your body that makes sure that foreign invaders don't make you sick. The world has become so tightly connected that it is possible for a germ to quickly hitch a ride on a jet plane and spread all over the world much faster than it can be tracked.
So it pays to keep your immune system in tip top shape. You never know when you will most need it.
Where Did All the Vitamin C Go?
It’s a mystery.
Goji berries are absolutely loaded with Vitamin C. But when you look at our nutritional label, it says they don’t have any Vitamin C.
But I just told you they’re loaded with it. And everything you read everywhere else says so too. How can that be?
The answer lies in what a nutritional label actually is. It’s an FDA legal requirement for retail food sales. Of course, I don’t sell retail foods. I only sell Goji berries in bulk, which is not retail. However, as a service to my customers, I include a traditional nutritional label.
But unfortunately, this service also creates confusion, and here’s why. The answer gets a bit technical. The USDA tests foods in coordination with the FDA. It comes down to how the USDA tests for Vitamin C, which is different from how the human body actually uses Vitamin C. The USDA test uses a chemical definition of Vitamin C that is very narrow and specific.
On the other hand, your body uses a number of related chemical compounds as though they were Vitamin C. In chemical terms, these are called “analogs.” The type of Vitamin C that’s in Goji berries is an analog of Vitamin C that doesn’t fall within the strict USDA definition of Vitamin C. But your body still recognizes it as Vitamin C and uses it as though it were Vitamin C, and it has the same effect as Vitamin C.
What about the Vitamin A? It doesn’t show up on the nutritional label either.
Goji berries are packed with beta carotene (that’s why they’re so orange inside, just like carrots.) Beta carotene is a precursor to Vitamin A, which means the human body can turn it into Vitamin A. It’s also a powerful antioxidant.
The FDA nutritional label was never intended to be a complete nutritional statement, but it just highlights some particularly significant (but still somewhat arbitrary) nutritional information.
Stop Your Body's "Rusting" In Its Tracks
Many customers have heard that Goji berries have very high antioxidant content, so they ask me, “Do Goji berries have a lot of antioxidants?” After all, antioxidants are well-known for slowing down the anti-aging process.
Well, to answer this, I would ask, “How do you measure the antioxidant level, anyway, and why is it important?”
As you might suspect, the answer involves a good deal of scientific research. If you aren’t interested in this research, skip to the next section or two.
Otherwise, read on…
You’ve probably heard that antioxidants are good to take, but why?
Anti-oxidants are the opposite of oxidants. Oxidants are agents that cause oxidation. Controlled oxidation runs the machinery of life, and is very good. For example, our immune systems send white blood cells to attack disease cells or foreign matter lodged in the body (such as splinters, etc.) When they arrive, they produce a common oxidant, hydrogen peroxide, which burns away the foreign matter.
But uncontrolled oxidation is “bad” oxidation. Uncontrolled oxidants are called “free radicals.” Free radicals have an extra electron and run around looking for other molecules with an extra electron to combine with.
When a metal such as iron oxidizes, it rusts. That’s slow oxidation, because it takes time. Bad (uncontrolled) oxidation is like rusting. When our bodies are attacked by free radicals, it’s as though they rust.
Free radicals are all around us, attacking us all the time from pollution, sunlight, electromagnetic radiation and even from normal metabolism. You can’t get away from them, and they cause you to age. They are unstable molecules that cause a self-perpetuating chain reaction.
Antioxidants destroy free radicals. Different antioxidants take different amounts of time to react to the bad free radicals. Antioxidants minimize or prevent damage from the bad free radicals and maintain health.
Imagine that you are a car engine, and the food you eat is the gasoline. When the gasoline is oxidized in a controlled way within the engine, it drives the car forward.
But when the gas tank gets a leak and the gas spills out and catches fire, it’s uncontrolled oxidation and the car bursts into flame in a rapid oxidation process and goes to the slag heap.
From this example, you can see why you’d want to have lots of antioxidants fighting off the free radicals in your body.
Gojis Score High In Antioxidants
A test to measure the antioxidant level in foods, known as the ORAC Assay, was developed in 1992 by Dr. Guohua Cao of the National Institute of Aging in Baltimore, Maryland (a U.S. government research institute.) He is a chemist and a physician.
ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. It is now the standard test used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to measure the potency of antioxidants in foods. An antioxidant level is expressed in “ORAC units.”
ORAC measures both the capacity of the antioxidants in the food and the time an antioxidant takes to react. It combines these into one measurement that is usually expressed in 100 gram food samples. The higher the ORAC score, the more antioxidants a food has, and the more bad free radicals it can absorb.
However, ORAC won’t tell you everything about antioxidant content; it’s only one indicator. But it is a good indicator.
A good rule of thumb for humans is to eat around 5000 ORAC units per day. Most people rarely reach this amount. It’s good to eat a variety of fruits and veggies to get enough, because different foods have widely different amounts. For example, to get 5000 ORAC units, you’d have to eat 18.35 pounds of cucumbers (8,333 grams.)
Of course, foods have many other nutritional properties as well, such as vitamins and minerals. This is why you need to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
Here is a short list comparing the ORAC units of a few foods.
| Food |
ORAC Score |
Grams Needed |
|
Goji berries |
25,300 |
20 |
|
Pomegranates |
3,307 |
151 |
|
Blueberries |
2,400 |
208 |
|
Noni fruit |
1,506 |
332 |
|
Apples |
218 |
2294 |
|
Spinach |
1,770 |
282 |
|
Tomato |
195 |
2564 |
|
Dark chocolate |
13,120 |
38.1 |
Anybody want some chocolate covered Goji berries?
Goji Berries are Yummy in Your Tummy
The number of ways you can use Goji berries every day is limited only by your imagination. But here are some ideas for starters.
My personal favorite way to start the day off right is to sprinkle Goji berries over my breakfast cereal. They also blend right into a smoothie. And you can sprinkle them over yogurt.
Snack time? Grab some Gojis. They travel well. Your body will thank you for this powerful pick-me-up.
Lunch time? Sprinkle some over your salad. The Goji crunch goes really well with those leafy greens.
Time for the afternoon hike? Add Goji berries to your trail mix for extra energy, or carry a small ziplock bag-full in your pocket.
Thirsty? You can make your own Goji juice by soaking the berries overnight and blending. Commercial Goji Berry Juice has become quite popular, but it's also expensive. Making your own is so easy and saves big over buying bulky, heavy juice bottles.
Dinners: add them into casseroles. Mix them with wild rice and squash. Use your imagination! Put them in everything!
Dessert time? Yep. Sprinkle some over your dessert for a crunchy delight.
As a bonus, Goji berries keep well and can be stored in your pantry for years, just like most dried fruit. You should always have at least 3 days of ready to eat food on hand. Why not make some of that be compact, light, super nutritious Goji berries?
Ready your order? Order Your Goji Berries Here
A Handful of Goji Berries a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
 A lot of impressive points have been listed in the section above about "Why Goji Berries Are So Good for You." It lists the many positive effects on your health of regularly eating these berries.
Indeed, legends abound about the vibrant health and longevity of the hardy mountain people who have eaten them ever since they were weaned. According to legend, these folk never get heart disease, cancer, or apparently any other disease.
But I don't want to perpetuate more myths. After all, these hardy mountain people also live naturally healthy lives, exercise regularly, live without pesticides in food, etc. How do we know their blooming health comes from eating Goji berries?
I'm guessing it's a big part of it. Probably you're thinking along the same lines.
After all, Goji berries are about as nutrient dense as bee pollen.
People always ask me, "How many Goji berries should I eat each day to stay healthy?"
The quick answer is a couple of handfuls per day. The honest answer is that it varies from person to person. Of course it would vary depending on weight and height, but even more so, it depends on your state of health.
Listen to your body as to how many to eat. Many people have nutritional deficiencies of one kind and another. Sometimes you'll have a craving for a large amount of berries each day until some nutritional deficiency gets addressed and then your craving tapers off as you become healthier.
What Is A Serving Size and How Many Per Day?
A serving size according to our label is considered to be one ounce. A lot of scientific research has been conducted on Goji using one ounce or the equivalent (if it's juiced) per day.
We do not recommend any particular amount or number of servings per day, although some people do treat Goji berries that way.
Our Goji berries are a delicious, wonderful food, just as blueberries are. Is there a particular "serving size" for blueberries? Is there a recommended number of servings per day for blueberries?
I adore fresh blueberries. In the summer, my personal number of servings per day for blueberries is about 10. I have them for breakfast, I snack on them, I put them on ice cream, etc. In the winter, it averages about zero servings per day.
Goji berries are dried, so my personal number of servings per day for Goji berries is one, and it never ends. I start eating them in the morning and I stop at bedtime! They are my snack food of choice! I cook with them, too.
No Sugar Added
One question we get a lot is "What do the berries taste like?"
My answer is going to surprise you: Not everyone likes the taste of Goji berries right off the bat. They taste too "foreign" or "strange." But this passes quickly. Your body will learn that Goji Berries are great nutrition. You'll soon acquire a taste for them and they'll start to taste delicious to you.
It's hard to describe the taste, because it really is different from anything else you may have tasted.
Another thing that we find happens sometimes is that people buy the berries from a source that adds sugar. See, sugar is WAY cheaper than the berries. So by soaking the plain berries in sugar syrup, they bulk up and taste much sweeter. Typically, a manufacturer that does this will be able to "stretch" his berries so that much of the weight of the package of "berries" is actually sugar and water!
You'll also notice on the packaging that the manufacturer has added "other Natural Berry Flavors." I wonder what the heck THAT means! One we have seen says the product includes "Pomegranate and other Natural Berry Flavors." The berries in this manufacturer's packages are VERY red, very plump, sticky, sugary-tasting and have a medley of indecipherable flavors underneath the disguised fermented taste that sugar inevitably adds.
If you've tasted berries with added sugar, you'll be surprised at how "plain" our unsweetened berries taste. Our berries are never sticky. Their red color is not enhanced. They have NO ADDED SUGAR. There are no other added "berry flavors."
Again, if you have eaten some of these "berries with additions" and then try our berries, don't be discouraged. Your taste buds will quickly readjust. If you go back to the sugar soaked berries you'll find that they have a "fermented" taste.
NO Anything Added
Nothing is added to our Goji berries.
NOTHING!
You get just plain, beautiful dried organic berries.
No pesticides.
No preservatives.
No sulfites.
No coloring, no natural flavoring, no juices, no additives. Nope. Nothing. Just the gorgeous naked little sweethearts grown in mineral-rich soil.
Our growers are fanatical about this.
Nothing is added to our Goji berries.
Happy Berries - For Real?
Yep. Eat them and you get happy. Cheerful. All day. Happy all day.
Sparks the passions, too.
Makes you happy.
The Bottom Line - Why Choose Goji Berries?
This is surely not the first article you've read about a "miracle food." Every month, there's another hot "functional food" promising you'll live forever, have the best sex of your life, reach enlightenment before you finish your first serving, and blah, blah, blah.
Ultimately, there's no better way to know what's best for you than for you to try a superfood for a long enough period of time, (say, a month or two), and see how you feel. Of course, you have to pay attention in order to know when you're feeling better. Nobody can do this for you.
But the results are well worth it because you'll be healthier and happier. Many people discover that they "miss" eating Goji Berries once they run out. That's a clear sign.
We know that many people reorder once they've tried our Goji Berries. For them, the choice is clear.
Consider this about Goji Berries. Although they have only recently been "discovered" in the West, they have a history as a "superfood" in Tibet and China that spans many thousands of years . In other words, the Goji berry is not some recent marketing hype invented to part you from your hard earned money.
Goji Berries have had a great reputation from long before you and I were born. Perhaps Goji berries will allow us to live long enough to become our own legend. Or at least you'll be healthier and happier for trying.
You could chose any number of foods as your one superfood. Yes, science is finally starting to "discover" Goji Berries. But this only reaffirms the "wisdom of the ancients." Why not pick a superfood that has a proven track record reaching back thousands of years?
How To Make Your Own Goji Juice
Our customers are always asking us, "Which is better, Goji juice or Goji berries?"
You've probably seen all the ads on the internet for Goji juice. Have you also noticed how expensive it is?
When you buy pre-made Goji juice, you don't really know what's in it. Making your own is not hard, and when you do, you know exactly what it's made of.
We do carry a potent 5:1 Goji concentrate crystal that readily dissolves in liquid. We've gotten great results with it. HOWEVER, we've been out of it for the last 2 months because of problems importing it from China. There are other Goji concentrates available, but they aren't up to our standards.
We like the concentrate because liquid is always easier to digest than chewed food. But eating the berries is great too, of course, because they're so delicious and you get all those nutrients and all that wonderful fiber.
Some people have digestive issues that make it easier to assimilate juice than to eat the berries. The following method works especially well for them.
Since we don't have any concentrate right now, we make our own juice by soaking the berries overnight. We suggest drinking it in the morning. Be careful though, because it's quite potent. It gives you lots of energy. If you drink too much you might have trouble sleeping the following night.
If you don't drink it all at once, be sure to refrigerate what's left. Otherwise you'll end up with fermented Goji "beer!"
Here's how you "Make Your Own Goji Juice" in your very own 12 Step program:
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Put about 4 ounces of Goji berries in a 16 ounce drinking glass
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Just barely cover them with pure water
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Soak and refrigerate them overnight
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Put the soaked berries in the blender
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Add just enough water to get them to blend
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Blend them until pureed, about 1-2 minutes
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Place a coffee filter into a coffee filter holder sitting in a large measuring cup or small bowl
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Pour the puree into the coffee filter
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After about 2 hours, the Goji juice has filtered through
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Add additional water now and again to "wash" more juice out until all the flavor is out of the pulp
-
You can mix the pure Goji Juice with other juices if desired
-
Drink to your health. We mean it!
What do you do with the pulp? Throw it out or feed it to the chipmunks. However, if you want to try a fun experiment, put a layer of potting soil in a planting tray, spread all the pulp all over the soil, put another layer of soil on top, and keep it moist and warm. After about 2 weeks you'll start to see lots of little sprouts coming up. Goji seems to be a slow growing plant, but soon you'll have a thick, beautiful carpet of Goji sprouts. After they sprout, give them some sun.
You can clip them and eat them in salads or by the handful. They're delicious! You can also separate some into pots and start to grow your own Goji plantation.
Of course, you can also make a "lazy man's" Goji juice by just soaking the berries and drinking the liquid. However, you won't extract quite as many nutrients from the berries this way.
Making your own juice, you'll know exactly what's in it! And it's so much less expensive.
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