The Mighty Goji Berry Benefits Worth Knowing
We’re glad to be growing goji berries, and plan to add more for the many goji berry health benefits.
If you’re looking up goji berries, then chances are you already know the goji plant, Lycium barbarum, is an amazing superfood. The small red berries are nutrient dense and antioxidant rich, and surprisingly high in protein for fruit.
Unlike the red pill/blue pill in the classic film, The Matrix, the blueberry also has loads of benefits! But today we’re focusing on how to grow the goji plant, and the potent health benefits of this unpretentious red berry.
Matrix Trivia: In case you’re wondering, it’s the little red pill that allows Neo to see the truth, aka: The Matrix of Life.
What a wonderful concept: berries instead of pills! Oh, but wait… that’s been around vastly longer than pills. Health through healthy foods! #naturesway
Our favorite little red pill is the goji berry!
Goji Berry Origin
Goji berries are a Tibetan berry that have been used medicinally by Tibetans for at least 1,700 years.
The Chinese view use the berries, leaves, bark, and roots of the goji plant in traditional medicine, and the wolfberry leaves and buds have been used in medicinal teas in China for over 2,000 years and are said to have the same antioxidant benefits as the berry.[1]https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Wolfberry_Leaves_16586.php
Pure Healing Foods states that:
“The Tibetans used Goji berries for a whole slew of problems ranging from kidney failure, cleansing the blood, eye problems, skin rashes, psoriasis, and depression.”
That list is only a few of the many wonderful goji berry health benefits packed into these tiny little red berries.
We’ve been buying dried goji berries to add to our homemade nut mix, for the many health benefits, but they’re quite expensive. So when we looked into growing goji berries at our Pilot Mountain, NC, rental cabin property in USDA grow zone 7a, we were delighted to discover that they can grow outdoors in zones 5-9
Ours have done very well, excepting for one deer attack that took them down to the ground. So if you have deer issues in on your land, you’ll want some protection for your plants.
Goji Berries are a power packed superfood that’s easy to grow.
What Do Goji Berries Taste Like?
The taste of goji berries is hard to describe because it doesn’t really resemble any one fruit.
Eaten raw from the plant, goji berries have a tart tangy flavor with a hint of sweet. If you could imagine a cherry tomato blended with a slightly tart raspberry, that might come close to describing the fresh goji berry taste.
If you’re familiar with the kousa berry from the Easter dogwood tree, gojis resemble that berry flavor a little as well.
You can use goji berries in any way you’d use other small tart berries with a hint of sweet. Here are some examples of how to enjoy this little red berry full of powerful nutrients and antioxidants.
How to Use Goji Berries
- Raw Goji Berries –
- eat a small handful
- blended in smoothies
- in yogurt with a little maple syrup
- in muesli
- Salads
- Dried Goji Berries
- Nut mixes
- Baking, especially breakfast breads and muffins
- Granola / muesli
- Salads
- tossed salads
- carrot salads
Here’s an example of a yummy energy bar, which you can buy or make your own. Here’s a yummy looking recipe for goji pistachio bars.
If you eat them dried they are a bit hard and very chewy and more tart than sweet.
For just munching and also for baking, if you don’t like the hard dried berries, you can soften them by soaking in water, or apple juice to add sweetness. Don’t toss the water… you can use it! We drink it like vitamin water, or add it to the batter as part of the liquid if we’re baking something, or to salad dressing to simulate something like a raspberry vinaigrette.
How to Use Goji Berries – Some of Our Favorite Ways
Our most common way to use dried goji berries is added to a homemade nut mix or this roasted rosemary pecans recipe. Gojis added to nut mixes add a tartly sweet contrast to the healthy fat and protein of the nuts, especially tasty with raisins and other dried fruits.
We also add goji berries to breakfast breads, pies, and cakes such as a yummy healthy buckwheat coffee cake. We’ve also added them along with blueberries in this lemon blueberry breakfast cake. However, our bushes are not yet producing large harvests, so we’re more likely to eat a few fresh each day in season, and dehydrate any extras to preserve for the winter.
We also add gojis to salads. The tart with a hint of sweet red berry adds a festive touch for holidays or any time along with a health boost of vitamin C.
You can get dried Goji Berries on Amazon, as well as Goji plants, or check with your local nursery.
Growing Goji Berries for Health Benefits
From Pure Healing Foods[2]https://www.purehealingfoods.com/gojiInfo.php
Goji Berries are a rich source of both selenium and germanium and have been used in a number of clinical trials involving cancer patients. When given to patients undergoing chemotherapy, the berries conferred significant protection for the liver.
In Oriental medicine, goji berries are said to correct chi deficiency. To fix chi deficiency means that for people with low energy, insomnia, heart palpitations, and even anxiety are more comfortable after consuming goji berries.
Omegas
Goji berries are high in essential fatty acids, the healthy omegas, which are required for the body’s production of hormones and the smooth functioning of the brain and nervous systems. In particular, goji berries are high in linoleic acid.
In Summary:
Goji Berries Are Rich In:
- Selenium
- Germanium
- Essential fatty acids
- Linoleic acid
- Antioxidants – carotenoid zeaxanthin
- Unique molecules – polysaccharides
Goji Berries are Beneficial for:
- Liver protection
- Balancing hormones
- Brain function
- Nervous system
- Eye retina
- Immune system
- Stimulating the pituitary gland
- Producing more Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
- Muscle development
- Skin elasticity
These little berries sound pretty amazing, don’t they?!
Vision Benefits
Goji berries are rich in antioxidants, particularly carotenoids like zeaxanthin. One of zeaxanthin’s key roles is to protect the retina of the eye by absorbing blue light and acting as an antioxidant.
Increased intake of foods containing zeaxanthin may decrease the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in people over the age of 65.
Immune System & Anti-Aging
Goji berries are known to have unique polysaccharides known as “Master Molecules” which work together to fortify the immune system, and are not found in any other known plant.
Polysaccharides also stimulate the pituitary gland in the anterior of the brain to produce more Human Growth Hormone (HGH), the master hormone in our bodies responsible for muscle development and skin elasticity, amongst other benefits. Exercise and sleep also stimulate HGH.
You can find Goji Berries on Amazon. They’re pricey, so all the more reason to grow your own!
