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.
Many of these misconceptions were spread by some high powered marketing types who figured you'd never know they were just inventing tall tales. Let's take a look at these made up myths.
"I Like This Site" "This
is the only site where you could actually contact a real person.
I sent emails to other sites but got no response. I really like this site." 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...
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 gǒuqǐ and gǒuqǐzi 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 is the Latin name for our Goji berries, which are also known as Wolfberries.
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.
Our Goji berries come from the Ningxia region of China. They are farmed using organic methods on plantations. The peasant farmers prefer it that way, since chemicals, pesticides and fertilizer are added expenses. Goji berries do just fine without any of these "modern" farming chemicals and have done so for thousands of years before "modern" farming was invented. Pesticides and fertilizer have never been used in this fertile, mineral-rich soil. We want to give you the best. Our 'man on the ground', Bruce Ny, goes to China a couple of times a year to inspect the plantations that grow our berries. Goji berries are his life and he is fanatical about making sure the berries don't just test pure, but are pure. In addition, he pays certification inspectors to visit the fields we get our berries from as well. This means paying their entire expenses for the trip. Ever wonder why organic products are more expensive? The expense of the certification process has a lot to do with it. This ensures you that the berries you get have the purity to live up to their healthy promise. Our Goji berries have a low moisture content. This means you get more berries for your money. It also means they stay well preserved without the need for preservatives such as sulfur dioxide. Most people very rightly are concerned about ANYTHING coming from China these days. We're lucky enough to have someone as diligent as Bruce and the organic certification organizations watching out for us.
So let's assume for a moment that the whole certification process is a scam. (Its not, but bear with me as I make a point.) Is there any other way you can be sure that when it says it's organic, it means organic? Yes there is. You see, the reason you want organic is because you're concerned about all the toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers etc. that are lurking in your food and screwing up your health. There are independent testing labs you can contract and for a couple of thousand dollars, they'll run an exhaustive panel of tests for all the yucky stuff (sorry if I'm getting too technical with my vocabulary here) that you DON'T want in your organic food. Within a couple of days, you can have your own, independent test results that show that your organic food really is organic - and you don't have to take anybody else's word for it. Now, it could get kind of expensive if you do this with all the food you eat. But my point here is that the possibility that anyone could do this anytime, anywhere with any food keeps most food suppliers honest. For example, we had a customer ask about this recently, so let us be explicit about this. "No, they are not sulfured. No sulfur dioxide has been used to preserve them." This means no sulfides! They're 100% sulfite free. You could take your Goji Berries to a testing lab yourself and have the lab test for sulfides. Our Goji berries have a low moisture content. This means you get more berries for your money. It also means they stay well preserved without the need for preservatives such as sulfur dioxide. Most people very rightly are concerned about ANYTHING coming from China these days. We're lucky enough to have someone as diligent as Bruce and the organic certification organizations watching out for us.
Well, oven dried. Oven drying is quicker, but it harms the nutrients, greatly reducing their quality and efficacy
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.
We 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. Spread ONE DAY’s * worth of your berries out on a plate and spray them with pure water. This will make them soften right up. Give 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. OPTIONAL: Let the berries soak longer. *BEWARE: Berries may grow mold or start to ferment if they soak more than one day.
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 will 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. These 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.
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 YouNow 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.
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.
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 :
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.
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.
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 aging process. Otherwise,
read on…
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.
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
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.
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. You can look at the complete nutritional information here. This link will open up a very large PDF file in a new window. You'll see the standard nutritional label on page six.
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.
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. The best description I've heard is that they taste like a cross between a cranberry and an olive. 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.
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.
Sparks the passions, too. Makes you happy.
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. 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. Sometimes 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. Don't say I didn't warn you! 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:
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. Ready to order?
All you have to do is pop it into your CD player and listen. This is also a great way to share your enthusiasm about Goji Berries with your friends. Just give them the CD to listen to. In just under 45 minutes, you'll learn:
Note: You can listen to samples of the Audio Book by clicking on the blue underlined links above. It may take a few moments for the audio to start, depending on your connection speed. Your connection speed is to low if the audio stutters. Ready to get your free CD
with your Goji Berry order?
... Or you can order the CD separately for $19.97 Click Here to Order Your Your "Why Goji?" Audio Book There You Have It
You Can Also Call 303-642-0277. Have Your Credit Card Handy.
P.S. If you've been searching for healthy, nutritious organic Goji Berries at a great price and with out the scammy hype then your search is over. You can order them right here and get free priority shipping. Bookmark this page. You'll be glad you did. It might be hard to find it again later.
Legal Disclaimer | Terms of Use | Privacy Statement © 2015 The Happy Fruit, 2525 Arapahoe Ave. E4-820, Boulder CO 80302
|
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.
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 the air and water are supposed to be
extra pure because of magical monk chants echoing up and down the mountainsides.
Approximately
60 million pounds (30,000 tons) of Goji berries are grown every year in the
whole world. That's equivalent to the weight of 15,000 average American cars.
This does not always meet the demand, especially when the harvest is poor, as it
was this year.
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." 
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.
But there's more. Even information
sources as widely read as wikipedia.com claim that there is no such thing as
"organic" in China. (Side note: did you know that you - yes, you - could
go into wikipedia and write anything you want? As long as nobody changes
it, wikipedia will continue to show what you wrote.)
What's so great about sun-dried? If not sun-dried,
then what?
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.
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.
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?
My son was flunking his advanced physics and engineering
university classes and was having to repeat each course in order to meet his degree requirements. In his 3rd year of college I got him started on your Goji berries and provided him with a steady supply. He started eating handfuls all the time, but especially during mid-term and final exams when his stress levels were highest. He then passed a heavy course load with straight B's. He just graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Resources Engineering degree. He keeps a bowl of goji berries on his table at all times and he says they're the perfect snack during long work hours on the computer. My son thanks me and I thank you, Goji Health. Of course, I eat them too. Even when I can't get away from my desk to find the time to exercise, your goji
berries help me lose weight and reduce my stress levels about deadlines.
Yep. Eat them and you get happy.
Cheerful. All day. Happy all day.
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. 
I know that not
everyone has time to read this whole site. Fortunately, I have an audio
interview that answers your most common questions. 
Don't
like the Goji Berries? Return what's left and you get your money back.