Hi everyone

After two years my goji berry bushes have at last bore fruit.

However, the berries taste....awful! Bitter, like they're definitely not suitable for human consumption. They're soft and red, so seem ripe. Also, after trying them when they first appeared, I tried them again after a few weeks and they still tasted awful.

Comments? I'd been led to understand that fresh goji berries were wonderful! (And I see that Anthony, 'the raw model, is selling goji berry seeds via the RawReform newsletter.)

Love

Debbie Took
www.rawforlife.co.uk



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2010 11:41AM by debbietook.

Awww! That's sad.
Could something have possibly gone wrong in the growing?

I didn't do anything to them. Just put the small bushes into the earth and they grew.

The bushes are still covered with berries (quite cold here right now in the UK), but they're inedible.

I'm wondering if the reason fresh goji berries aren't on sale is that they ARE unpleasant to eat!

Yeah, probably! Well, you live and learn, right? I've been doing all sorts of fruity trial and error recently. But when you hit a home run- it sure feels good!

Which subspecies did you get? Lycium chinense is supposed to be very sour.

debbietook,
How disappointing that must be! I tried growing them, actually from seed. I got a small vine, bush whatever happening. But then I abandoned it when I moved, because I thought I didn't have room. I did, but didn't know it at the time. I was so mad.

But, it sounds like I might have had a different disappointment later on. Could it be the effects of climate? I know that when it comes to particular chinese herbs particular locations are definately prefered. Soil conditions, nutrients, sunglight hours, temp, etc... all make a difference so I have heard.

One website states the following:
"The best wolfberries are grown in Ningxia, where the mineral-rich Yellow River and alpine temperatures ensure an ideal growing environment for Lycium barbarum L or Lycium barbarum var. Ningxia."
[www.suite101.com]

I bought some frozen goji berries at wholefoods. They did have a little bitterness that the dried ones seemed to lack. But not so much that I can't eat them just as they are.

Don't give up hope on them! Keep trying them periodically, and if you find that they never taste good fresh, try drying them or freezing them. I want you to enjoy the benefits of your hard work!

Debbie,
I found a link to someone who bought fresh gojis!
[thelivingkitchen.wordpress.com]

Apparently, this person found them mild and sweet tasting, but very filling.

"They have a very mild flavor – in the way blueberries are mild – and they are quite sweet in the same way watermelon is. That’s sort of how it tastes – juicy and surprisingly reminiscent of watermelon, though not for any specific reason. They are really good, but seemed to definitely be medicinal in that I only felt like eating about two tablespoons worth and then felt like drinking a lot of water. So they are quite potent in some way and also, won’t keep long, so if my body has had enough, I suppose I’ll be drying the remainder, ironically. Or at least the ones I don’t plant! "