The goji berry, which has been part of Chinese culture since the 3rd Century, is now being viewed as one of the hottest superfoods available today.

This small, oval-shaped berry has been called the “red diamond” as it is thought to have anti-ageing powers and has achieved newfound global status as a superfood, but to the people of China, who have being using it medicinally since the 3rd Century, it’s simply called the goji berry or wolfberry.

The goji berry is grown across China, but it’s Ningxia’s unique geology that has created the most revered version of the fruit. “It’s the combination of cool mountain breezes, mineral-rich soil and vines irrigated by the famed Yellow River that make the goji berries from the Ningxia region so prized,” said Evan Guo, sales manager for Ningxia Baishi Hengxing Food Technology Co, an organic goji berry farm.

The farmers in Ningxia still harvest the fruit in the same way they have done throughout history.

From July to September each year, farmhands crouch in front of waist-high bushes laden with the plump tomato-coloured berries.

They deftly pluck a handful of the sweet treats at one time from the vines before they drop them into a woven bamboo basket.

China’s love of the goji berry dates back hundreds of years, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners have long believed that it has medicinal powers.

The earliest record of this is in the Compendium of Materia Medica, a historical medical text written by the famed herbalist Li Shizhen in the 16th Century.

Ms Zhang Ruifen, a TCM doctor for Eu Yan Sang Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic that has locations in China, Malaysia and Singapore, said, “It is a very extensive, celebrated record and goji berry is recorded in that book. Li stated what each herb looked like and how you should use it.”

The Chinese view the goji berry as a both a fruit and a herb, and the berry that’s packed with vitamin C, antioxidants, amino acids and trace minerals, is prescribed by TCM doctors to boost liver and kidney function.

“Chinese mothers may say that you need to eat it as it is good for the eyes, as it contains carotene,” said Zhang, who studied Chinese medicine in Beijing.

“I would prescribe it to help boost the kidney and liver system, of which TCM believes that the eyes are a part.”

At home, Chinese men and women will sprinkle dried goji berries over homemade chicken, red date and ginger in their “old fire simmer soup” (a clear broth cooked over a low heat) or into a flask of chrysanthemum tea to give themselves a vitamin boost.

When Zhang prescribes it to patients, she combines it with a potent combination of other herbs: “We usually don’t use a single herb for the whole treatment; it is a part of a concoction,” she said.

However, there are certain times that as a TCM practitioner Zhang says she will choose not to prescribe it so it doesn’t exacerbate the patient’s condition.

“If a person has a fever, inflammation or sore throat, which we call ‘heaty’ in Chinese medicine, I would advise the patient to stop taking goji berry during that period of time,” she said.

“If they were also suffering from ‘dampness’ and diarrhoea, which we call spleen deficiency, we say that you shouldn’t take it as well. But when you are fine, generally goji berry is suitable for everybody.”

Goji berries have long been part of Chinese culture.

Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago a doctor visited a village in China where everyone was more than 100 years old.

He discovered that they all drank from a well that was surrounded by goji berries. And the theory was that, as the fruit ripened, it would fall into the well and its vitamin-packed contents would seep into the water.

Tales are also told of a 17th-Century herbalist called Li Qing Yuen who ate goji berries every day and was said to have lived until he was 252 years old.

If this wasn’t enough to encourage future generations to eat the traditional old fire simmer soups that were garnished with goji berries, Chinese mothers would tell their children that the berries would stop them from needing glasses to get them to finish their bowls.

But times are changing for this simple berry, including how it is consumed.

The ancient goji berry, which has long been part of Chinese culture, is now being viewed as a superfood both in China and beyond.

Asia’s younger generations are embracing the goji berry, but giving it their own twist.

For example, members of Gen Z are now buying “wellness kettles” for their goji berry tea (Below).

Their parents might recognise these as traditional soup kettles that have been repackaged by brands such as Buydeem and turned a more Instagram-worthy shade of pink.

A 2019 study by Agility Research & Strategy on Gen Z in China showed that this generation sees living a healthy life as a key priority, even over money, career, personal enjoyment and having a family.

The berry has also become popular with international consumers.

Hooked on the “superfood”, people in the West are paying up to US$10 for a packet of the berries, around three times the price in Asia.

The superfood price tag is encouraging farmers to make sure that their crop reaches the supermarket shelves faster.

While the farmers in Ningxia pluck 180,000 tonnes of fresh goji berries each year from the vines, they sell most of their produce in dried form as the fresh berry’s shelf-life is short.

The berries will ripen quickly in the hot summer sun, which means that farmers need to work quickly to gather their crop.