Goji
Lycium barbarum
Wolfberry. A sprawling solanaceous shrub. Dried berries are a traditional soup fruit and a ‘superfood’ SKU. Related to other Lycium; not a miracle.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: wolfberry
What it is
Wolfberry. A sprawling solanaceous shrub. Dried berries are a traditional soup fruit and a ‘superfood’ SKU. Related to other Lycium; not a miracle.
Edible portions
- ripe berries, usually dried
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 5–9
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Well-drained, even alkaline-tolerant
- Planting. Spiny, suckering. A hedge if you let it.
- Harvest. Ripe berries; they squish — often shaken onto a cloth.
Processing, drying, storage
- Drying. The common pantry form. See also Make → Drying.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Dried in soups and teas
- A sour-sweet snack
Nutrition and compounds
- Vitamins (qualitative, well-known associations). vitamin A — not milligram values.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Traditional uses
Traditional use Chinese soup berry — traditional use
AAA interpretation Traditional use is not automatically evidence, and evidence is not automatically a shopping recommendation.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.