| Goji Berries might be better known as the wolfberry, | | | | may be because the wolfberries are dubbed Gouqui in |
| whose plant is distinctly related to tobacco, chili pepper, | | | | the Mandarin Chinese tongue. Despite the relationship in |
| deadly nightshade, eggplant, tomato, and the potato | | | | names, some experts believe that Goji Berries were |
| plants. The US Department of Agriculture Germplasm | | | | actually cultivated outside China at the start before |
| Resources Information Network also classifies Goji | | | | being brought in to the country. |
| Berries as the plants known as matrimony vine, Duke | | | | Nowadays, Goji Berries are planted in commercial |
| of Argyll's tea tree, cambronera, bocksdorn, Barbary | | | | quantities in north central China (in the Ningxia Hui |
| matrimony vine, and the Chinese wolfberry. | | | | Autonomous Region) and in western China (in the |
| Goji Berries are getting much acclaim lately for being | | | | Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.) The size of a |
| health food products, usually marketed as either | | | | typical plantation of Goji Berries can start at 100 acres |
| Himalayan goji or Tibetan goji. One source indicates | | | | and extend to up to 1000 acres in the Ningxia Hui |
| that Goji Berries have been a mainstay of Traditional | | | | Autonomous Region. Ningxia has been found to |
| Chinese Medicine for around 1,900 years already. | | | | produce some of the top Goji Berries variety which |
| According to Chinese legend, Goji Berries were also | | | | are sometimes called the red diamonds commercial |
| used by Shen Nung who is believed to have been the | | | | variety. Ningxia produces very good Goji Berries |
| First Emperor of China. Goji Berries are now | | | | because this is the area where the Yellow River |
| considered a health food because research has | | | | floodplains exist. In 2001, 13 million kilograms of Goji |
| shown that it has antioxidants and nutrients aplenty, | | | | Berries were harvested in the Ningxia Region alone, |
| which may explain why Goji Berries are also now | | | | which was equivalent to 42% of the overall yield of |
| classified as one of the superfruits. Demand for | | | | China for that year. |
| superfruits like Goji Berries is expected to reach the | | | | One problem though with Goji Berries harvested |
| billion-dollar mark by year 2011. | | | | abroad is that they may contain residue of the |
| The Goji Berries you may be familiar with are usually | | | | organochlorine pesticides which are sprayed on the |
| of an ellipsoidal shape and bright red, with each of the | | | | plants to prevent insects from destroying the very |
| Goji Berries filled with up to sixty seeds. Goji Berries | | | | delicate berries. This is true regardless of whether the |
| that are planted in countries in the Northern | | | | Goji Berries were grown in Tibet or China or any other |
| Hemisphere may ripen in the months of July, August, | | | | Asian country. This is why it is very important that Goji |
| September and October. | | | | Berries food supplement processors be honest about |
| People who were raised as Chinese or Oriental may | | | | informing the public as to where their Goji Berries were |
| prefer to call these berries Goji Berries while Western | | | | grown and how they were treated before being |
| folk may know the berries better as the Wolf Berry or | | | | processed into food supplements. |
| wolfberries. The reason they are named Goji Berries | | | | |