Goji Berries

Product Details

Information

Goji berries, also known as wolfberries or by their scientific name of Lycium barbarum, are a reddish-orange berry with a sweet and sour flavor. One variety of goji berries tastes almost like a tomato while another leans more toward the tangy side of the berry family—closer to a cranberry. Goji berries have long been used as a central ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, and the vast majority of goji berries sold in the United States are dried and imported from China.

Dried goji berries are readily available and easy to use in smoothies and raw vegan elixirs. If you don’t have a powerful blender, you may want to rehydrate them first in a little water or apple juice to soften them before you blend them. Goji berry powder is also available and can be stirred directly into juices, herbal teas, or even just water.

Dried goji berries make a sweet and tangy topping for desserts or breakfast bowls, can be added to baked goods ranging from cupcakes to homemade energy bars, and add a punch of flavor and texture to granola. They make an interesting addition to trail mix, add a wonderful zest to a salad, and give flavor and texture to everything from salsas to soups and casseroles.

The dried goji berries frequently found in health food stores are generally the more berry-flavored variety, although you wouldn’t call them sweet. The flavor is tart and sour, kind of like a cranberry, with an almost herbal note. Dried goji berries should be chewy but still just slightly soft. The higher water content of fresh goji berries dilutes its tartness, less like cranberry flavor, and a more like tomato flavor.

You can use dried goji berries in place of raisins or Craisins in recipes of all kinds. You may need to increase the sweetener to compensate for the tart flavor, though.

The berries are packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, 18 amino acids and 21 trace minerals – it’s no wonder that some marketing claims that these are the most nutritionally rich fruit available.