Our goji berries are grown on a plantation on the banks of the Yellow River, where the rich soil provides all of the water and nutrients needed by the growing goji trees. Around 3000 trees are panted per hectare, and the evergreen shrubs are encouraged to grow lengthways (similarly to a vine) and stand around 1 metre high, which makes it easier to harvest the ripe berries. Each tree can produce around 1kg of berries, which are harvested between June and November of each year.
As the ripe berries are fragile and easily damaged they must be carefully picked by hand, avoiding the sharp thorns of the goji tree. Legend holds that if touched when unripe, the goji berry will oxidise and turn black, and the traditional hand picking method is still favoured over mechanical harvesting today. The goji berry originates in Asia and has been cultivated by Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan people for over 5000 years.
The small densely branched tree thrives in alkaline soils and can be found today growing wild in mountainous areas throughout Asia and Europe. The goji tree is a hardy plant and tolerates climatic extremes in its native Himalayan range, from winter lows of – 26°C to summer highs of up to 40°C. Trees begin to produce berries after 2 years of growth, and bloom with small, white trumpet shaped flowers before bearing fruit each autumn Goji berries are also known as ‘wolf berries’ and the name goji is thought to originate from the Chinese character ‘gou’ meaning dog, or wolf.
The main goji growing area in Asia today is Ningxia province, where over 180,000 acres of land are devoted to the cultivation of goji trees for their fruit. In rural parts of China, stands of goji plants can still be found growing wild where local villagers have returned to pick their fruit for hundreds of generations.
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