Gou Qi Zi AKA Goji Berries!

Article by: Michael G. Pingicer, M.S., L.Ac.

I am a member of the Park Slope Food Coop and have been for many years. Members are required to work 2.75 hours every 4 weeks in order to keep the cost of running the place to a minimum. The result is a wonderful break on food prices that are 20 - 40 percent below market price. The department that I choose work in is the food processing department. This is where multiple bulk foods are broken down into varied purchasable sizes. The foods that fall under this category are dried fruits, nuts, olives, cheese, teas, and spices. It has always been a pleasure working in this department, as I learn a lot about the varied types of these foods from NY State Tilsit cave-aged cheese to Russian caravan tea.

One day when I was working my shift, I was told that we were stocking a new item at the Coop: goji berries, a.k.a. gou qi zi/Chinese wolfberry. Being a NCCAOM Board Certified Chinese Herbalist and a professor of TCM dietetics, this addition intrigued me and was pleasantly surprising. Goji berries are a part of the traditional Chinese herbal (TCM) pharmacopeia as are many other "food-herbs," herbs that can not only be taken in herbal decoction but can also be eaten in everyday life. Goji berries are also a mainstay at Chinatown markets and apparently, they had made the crossover into a Western market or at least the Park Slope Food Coop.

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posted by: Michael G. Pingicer, M.S., L.Ac.