Every time I go home, there seems to be something new planted in my mom's garden. On this last trip home, I was outside in the yard when something small and red caught my eye. There were little red things blooming on a small green, leafy plant. I asked my mom what it was and she told me it was a goji berry plant.
I've never eaten fresh goji berries (go ji zi), let alone seen a live plant. I forgot to take pictures of my mom's plant. You can see pictures here. The only ones I've had are dried ones. Goji berries are supposed to have a lot of health benefits and so you will often see them in chinese soups like chicken soup or white fungus soup. I've never been a big fan of the taste of dried goji berries. When cooked in soup they are a bit mushy and have a very distinct herbal-like taste to it that you often find with other Chinese herbs.
My mom's plant is still quite small, so there were only two berries ready to be picked. They looked like tiny tomatoes. The fresh goji berry is actually sweet tasting. It was a bit like a sweeter version of a cherry tomato. I prefer the taste of fresh ones compared to the dried ones.
I've also seen dried goji berries at Costco that don't need to be cooked in soup, but are ready to eat like other dried fruit. They are coated with sugar and are fairly tasty.
Hi…do you know what variety of goji berry plant it was?I would love to grow some.
Sorry, I have no idea!
Interesting! I didn’t know that. I just knew that goji berries are supposed to be good for you and it’s always mixed in with a bunch of other herbs, dried fruits that Chinese people like to put in soups and other foods because it’s healthy.
David Wolfes new book Superfood, ranks the Goji Berry #1
I never liked them much in the “good for you soups” But the fresh one tasted much better. I only sampled one though and it was so tiny. So maybe if I ate a bunch I wouldn’t enjoy them as much. But I don’t even like just one dried one. Fresh one definitely tastes different though.
I’ve never seen a fresh goji berry either! My mom used to always stick them in those “good for you soups” along with ginseng and other herbs, so I don’t have a fond memory of them. I wonder if I’d like them on their own?