Edmonton-area organic market garden has grown the berries for a decade, selling them at farmers markets and food stores
An Edmonton-area organic market garden has been growing goji berries for about a decade.
Eric Chen, one of the owners of Peas On Earth, said the goji has been used for medicinal purposes in many cultures for hundreds of years.
He said the strong flavour of the berry and high volume of vitamin C limits the amount that is added per meal, but when used sparingly to garnish a salad, steeped in tea or added to a smoothie, the berries can provide an antioxidant boost.
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The orange-red oblong berries of the goji plant have an initial sweetness, followed by a bitter aftertaste. They have more than 500 times the amount of vitamin C as an equivalent weight of oranges.
The berries are sold at several St. Albert and Edmonton farmers markets and food stores, but Chen says they are one of the lesser asked for items, mostly because they deliver many health benefits in small quantities.
The soft, thin skin of the ripe fruit makes harvesting and storing the fresh berries troublesome because they can spoil in a few days without refrigeration or freezing. This explains why imported varieties are all dried.
“You can keep them in your cupboard for years,” said Chen.
Harvesting is also a challenge. The soft and small nature of the berry makes mechanical harvesting impractical.
“Picking is actually quite labour intensive because I don’t know of any mechanical harvesters for goji berry yet,” said Chen.
He said his father and senior staff harvest most of the berries by hand.
Chen and his father started the organic market garden 40 years ago, and employ up to 20 workers at the peak of the season. They started experimenting with goji plants when one of his employees brought a sucker from her yard.
Chen’s father was so charmed by the plant, and how easy it was to propagate, that over the years he has increased the goji orchard to a couple hundred plants.
Goji bushes are challenging to grow from seed, but they send out suckers in large numbers. The plants are hardy in the prairie climate and they can grow in many parts of China, Siberia and Europe, as well as Canada.
With so many goji plants established, Chen’s father allows his friends to pick their own berries.
Chen urges anyone interested in growing goji plants to try it.
“Then they’ll have enough goji berries for the whole block. All your neighbours will have goji berries for the whole summer,” he said.
If you are not inclined to grow your own, Chen always has some frozen at the markets year round.
For the moment Chen plans to keep his supply of goji fruit small, to match the local demand. While there may be other avenues for marketing the berries, the owners of Peas On Earth plan to continue to provide small amounts of fresh or frozen fruit.
