Discovering Himalayan Goji Berry And Its Health-Promoting Powers
Goji Juice, believed to be the most nutritionally dense food on our planet, was formulated by Dr. Earl Mindell himself with the same ethereal signature of the original Himalayan berries used by ancient healers for centuries.
The Miracle Well
Besides a wall near a legendary Buddhist temple during the Tang Dynasty (around 800 AD), a well covered Goji vines have been dug. Over the years, numerous Goji berries had fallen into the well. Those who meditated there had the gleaming complexion of good health, and even at the age of eighty they had no white hair and had lost no teeth, merely because they drank the water from the well.
Why the Himalayas?
The Himalayas are a mountain range that extends along the boundary between India and Tibet. This remarkable mountain range was created when the continents of India and Eurasia collided in extreme slow motion. Since the two continents were composed of rock that was approximately the same density, neither border scraped beneath the other, as usually happens when large landmasses start to move together.
Instead, both edges were shoved towards the sky at the rate of a few centimeters per year. Mount Everest, the highest peak of the Himalayas and the tallest mountain in the world, is more than 29,000 feet high, and it is believed that some 40 peaks in this mountain range are higher than any other spot on earth. They continue to rise a bit higher each year.
More than 18,000 species of exotic plants grow in the regions in and around the Himalayas. Many are found nowhere else in the world. The hardy, long-lived people who inhabit these mountains living and working in extremely high altitudes and extreme temperatures have found that around 8,000 of the plants unique to their ecosystems have healing and health-sustaining properties.
It is believed that the Himalayans were the first natural healers, sharing their knowledge with the ancient herbalists of China, Tibet, and India. One of their most valued secrets was the fruit of the native Goji vine, which had been thriving in the Himalayan valleys since the beginning of time. Those who came there to gain knowledge took the Goji home with them and planted it in their own valleys, thus disseminating the legend of this most spectacular and healthful fruit.
Since it is unearthing in the Himalayas, those who learn of the remarkable Goji berry are impressed by its unmatched health-promoting powers.
Wolfberry
The term Goji berry technically refers to the Tibetan Goji berry, also known as Lycium Barbarum (its Latin name). It is a member of a family of flowering plants known as the Solanaceae, a plant family that also includes within its ranks potatoes, tobacco, and tomatoes. Roughly eighty different varieties of lycium berry exist, including the Chinese Wolfberry (often touted by Chinese healers as a cure for male sexual dysfunction). It is a deep-red, dried fruit about the same size as a raisin. The Goji berry tastes to some extent like a cross between a cherry and a cranberry.
However, the Chinese Wolfberry is only considered a genetic cousin of Lycium Barbarum and not a true Goji berry.
Goji berries thrive in confined valleys in million-year-old soil in wild and cultivated areas. Like bushes with vines, the plant reaches over 15 feet. They are members of the Boxthorns, in the taxonomic family Solanaceae that also includes the Potato, Tomato, Eggplant, and Tobacco plants. The southern variety has the Latin name Lycium Chinese while the northern species (Lycium Barbarum) grows wild in the sheltered mountain valleys of Tibet and Mongolia. It is the northern species that most of the commercially available Goji juice is derived from harvesting the berries which can be difficult since they are so sensitive. If touched while fresh, Goji will oxidize and turn black. Instead of touching, they are shaken onto mats, then dried in the shade.
The unique properties endemic to the Tibetan Goji berry makes it one of the more fascinating fruits on Earth. As our knowledge of the Goji berry is to increase, the consumption of the plant itself grows in popularity in other parts of the world. Until then, do yourself a favor and enjoy a delicious Goji berry.
