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Are Chinese berries the secret to a long life?





By Joanne Howdle, visitor services manager at the multi-award-winning Dunnet Bay Distillers Ltd.

Goji Berry, also known as wolfberry. Picture: Wikimedia Commons
Goji Berry, also known as wolfberry. Picture: Wikimedia Commons

Goji or goji berry is the sweet fruit of either Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense, two closely related species in the Solanaceae family, commonly known as the nightshades.

The nightshades is a family of flowering plants containing approximately 2700 species including aubergine, peppers, potatoes and tomato. The fruit of Lycium barbarum and Lycium chinense are similar but can be distinguished by differences in taste and sugar content.

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Goji berry plants have been cultivated for over 4000 years in the arid and semi-arid regions of north-west China.

Called gǒuqǐ in Chinese, goji is a perennial deciduous shrub that can grow to 1-2 metres high. From spring to summer, the botanical produces pretty, reddish to light purple flowers that eventually turn to small berries ranging in colour from yellow to orange, and red to black.

The common English name for goji berries – wolfberry – has an unknown origin. It may have arisen from the mistaken assumption that the Latin name Lycium was derived from the Greek word lycos – which means wolf.

Another theory suggests the name of the botanical comes from goji berries' resemblance to the red colour of wolves’ eyes in certain lighting conditions which is due to a reflective layer in the animals’ eyes.

The botanical gets its first recorded mention in 200 BC in the Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīng (Divine Farmer’s Classic of Materia Medica), the oldest Chinese medical reference book, which describes 365 species of medicinal plants.

The Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīn is written from the perspective of Shénnóng, who in Chinese mythology was the second of the mythical emperors, said to have been born circa 2800–2701 BC with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

Shénnóng’s name translates as ‘Divine Father’.

The Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīn states that long-term consumption of goji berries could strengthen the bones, improve eyesight and provide cures for other medical ailments, especially related to the kidneys.

Goji berries were also said to keep those who consumed the botanical young and legend has it that a Chinese herbalist named Li Quing-Yuen lived to be 256 years old. Li Quing-Yuen credited his longevity to regular doses of goji berries.

Lycium barbarum was introduced in the United Kingdom by the third Duke of Argyll, Archibald Campbell (1682–1761) who was interested in botany.

On his 40-acre estate near Richmond the duke built a large greenhouse for the cultivation of exotic plant. In the 1730s, the duke ordered what he thought were tea plants from China but were in fact goji berry plants. When it became apparent to the duke that the botanical was not tea plants, he planted goji berry around his estate as ornamental hedging.

In Asian cuisine young goji berry shoots and leaves are used as a leaf vegetable, whilst the berries of the botanical are used in dishes as either a garnish or a source of sweetness in both savoury dishes and desserts.

Since the early 21st century, dried goji berries, have been marketed in the west as a superfood as the botanical is an excellent source of Vitamin A and C and the antioxidant beta carotene.

Dried and fresh goji berries are now included in snack foods, granola, breakfast cereals, and in baked goods, teas and soups.

In gin production goji berries add a subtle, berry-like flavour, with a hint of cranberry or sour cherry tartness to the spirit. Goji berries are not overtly sweet and can add a delicate sweetness and complexity to gin.


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