Wolfberries: New Crop with High Income Potential
Plants growing on a ranch in Utah’s West Desert have opened a whole new niche for enhancing and diversifying farm income. The plants, Lycium barbarum, more commonly referred to as wolfberry or goji plants, were apparently a result of Chinese transcontinental railroad workers living in Utah over 160 years ago. Long used for both food and medicine in China, wolfberries were a part of the railroad workers diet. Currently, wolfberry dried fruit is a major item in the U.S. health food market, with nearly all fruit coming from China.
Dr. Donald Daugs, who transplanted starts to his garden in Cache County, Utah, identified the West Desert plants. These plants not only thrived, but also produced heavy fruit crops. Eight years of research has resulted in a thriving wolfberry nursery business and prospects for a major new low impact-high income crop for farmers desiring to diversify or add a new crop component to their farm.
Phoenix Tears wolfberries are hardy to zones 3-9. They are extremely drought tolerant and prefer neutral to alkaline soil.
Dried fruit retails for at least $15.00 per pound. Fresh fruit at farmers markets sell for more than this. One California almond grower is currently converting five acres of almond trees to wolfberry fruit production, with a goal of annually producing about $50,000 of dried fruit per acre.
Wolfberry leaves are used for both vegetables and tea in China. These products are virtually unavailable in the United States. An advantage to raising wolfberries for leaf production rather than for fruit, is that leaf harvesting is far less labor intensive. Current research is establishing a market potential for wolfberry leaves. Projected value is about $25.00 per pound.
Two Utah Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Grants provided funding to establish the genetic make-up and identity of the plants grown at Phoenix Tears Nursery. These grants were also used to determine the nutrient profile of Phoenix Tears wolfberries. Complete nutrient date can be found at www.phoenixtearsnursery.com. Utah grown plants are comparable or better than any from China. Phoenix Tears dried leaf has an ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) of 522 compared to pomegranate at about 100, and blueberries at about 60. Dried fruit has a PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) value of 17,900 ng/g, compared to 30 ng/g in green tea and 60 ng/g in natto.
Donald Daugs found the plants on a deer hunting trip, surely not expecting nine years later to have the plants featured in six national nursery catalogs and to be on the forefront of introducing a whole new crop, in the form of wolfberry leaves, to the United States consumer.
Dr. Donald Daugs, who transplanted starts to his garden in Cache County, Utah, identified the West Desert plants. These plants not only thrived, but also produced heavy fruit crops. Eight years of research has resulted in a thriving wolfberry nursery business and prospects for a major new low impact-high income crop for farmers desiring to diversify or add a new crop component to their farm.
Phoenix Tears wolfberries are hardy to zones 3-9. They are extremely drought tolerant and prefer neutral to alkaline soil.
Dried fruit retails for at least $15.00 per pound. Fresh fruit at farmers markets sell for more than this. One California almond grower is currently converting five acres of almond trees to wolfberry fruit production, with a goal of annually producing about $50,000 of dried fruit per acre.
Wolfberry leaves are used for both vegetables and tea in China. These products are virtually unavailable in the United States. An advantage to raising wolfberries for leaf production rather than for fruit, is that leaf harvesting is far less labor intensive. Current research is establishing a market potential for wolfberry leaves. Projected value is about $25.00 per pound.
Two Utah Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Grants provided funding to establish the genetic make-up and identity of the plants grown at Phoenix Tears Nursery. These grants were also used to determine the nutrient profile of Phoenix Tears wolfberries. Complete nutrient date can be found at www.phoenixtearsnursery.com. Utah grown plants are comparable or better than any from China. Phoenix Tears dried leaf has an ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) of 522 compared to pomegranate at about 100, and blueberries at about 60. Dried fruit has a PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) value of 17,900 ng/g, compared to 30 ng/g in green tea and 60 ng/g in natto.
Donald Daugs found the plants on a deer hunting trip, surely not expecting nine years later to have the plants featured in six national nursery catalogs and to be on the forefront of introducing a whole new crop, in the form of wolfberry leaves, to the United States consumer.
Phoenix Tears Nursery Reconfirms Goji Superfood Status
Logan, Utah (January 22, 2011). A Specialty Crop Grant from the Utah Department of Food and Agriculture has made possible the genetic identification of a Utah variety of Lycium barbarum (goji, wolfberry). Nutrient analysis of both fruit and leaves were also conducted, confirming their potential as superfoods.
For most Americans, diets low in nutrients and large in portion size are the norm. Having a single food source which provides many daily essential nutrients would be an obvious advantage to improve overall diets. Phoenix Tears goji fruit and leaves have both a high nutrient density and a very diverse nutrient profile. Goji berries are a high demand item in the health food market. Their value is well documented. Two goals of Phoenix Tears research were to compare the Utah fruit nutrient values with those of Chinese produced fruit and also to document the nutrient value of leaf material.
Test conducted by Brunswick Laboratories, Inc. revealed that Phoenix Tears dried fruit had ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) comparable to values found for Chinese dried fruit. Also, the values for Phoenix Tears dried leaves were higher than for most foods. For example, pomegranate has an ORAC value of about 100. Phoenix Tears dried leaves had an ORAC value of 522, which is much higher than found in dried goji fruit. Get your antioxidants from goji tea or vegetables.
Another new area of interest revealed by the Phoenix Tears Nursery testing were the catechins found in dried leaves. Seven subgroups can contribute to total catechin content of a food. All seven subgroups were present in the Phoenix Tears dried leaves. These water soluble antioxidants are best known for their presence in green tea. Get your caffeine free catechins from goji tea or vegetables.
Dried leaves tested in 2010 had a carotenoid value triple that of spinach and a lutein content five times that of spinach. Both fruit and leaf material had zeaxanthin levels about 1/3 that of egg yolk, but higher than most other foods, with no cholesterol. Lycopene content in dried leaves was double that of tomato juice and ketchup. No other natural food can compete across this spectrum of nutrients.
Another very notable test result was for the nutrient betaine. Dried leaves had a betaine content of 19.38 mg/g. Doctor's betaine prescriptions for treatment of heart related problems typically contain from 1500 to 3000 mg of betaine per day. About three ounces of leaf material would supply the same betaine content, plus dozens of other supporting nutrients, at a fraction of the cost.
Phoenix Tears Nursery is a pioneer in the propagation and utilization of Lycium barbarum as a superfood plant. Seven years of research have documented propagation best practices, and ongoing testing continues to reveal the remarkable nutrient composition of Lycium barbarum, variety Phoenix Tears.
For most Americans, diets low in nutrients and large in portion size are the norm. Having a single food source which provides many daily essential nutrients would be an obvious advantage to improve overall diets. Phoenix Tears goji fruit and leaves have both a high nutrient density and a very diverse nutrient profile. Goji berries are a high demand item in the health food market. Their value is well documented. Two goals of Phoenix Tears research were to compare the Utah fruit nutrient values with those of Chinese produced fruit and also to document the nutrient value of leaf material.
Test conducted by Brunswick Laboratories, Inc. revealed that Phoenix Tears dried fruit had ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) comparable to values found for Chinese dried fruit. Also, the values for Phoenix Tears dried leaves were higher than for most foods. For example, pomegranate has an ORAC value of about 100. Phoenix Tears dried leaves had an ORAC value of 522, which is much higher than found in dried goji fruit. Get your antioxidants from goji tea or vegetables.
Another new area of interest revealed by the Phoenix Tears Nursery testing were the catechins found in dried leaves. Seven subgroups can contribute to total catechin content of a food. All seven subgroups were present in the Phoenix Tears dried leaves. These water soluble antioxidants are best known for their presence in green tea. Get your caffeine free catechins from goji tea or vegetables.
Dried leaves tested in 2010 had a carotenoid value triple that of spinach and a lutein content five times that of spinach. Both fruit and leaf material had zeaxanthin levels about 1/3 that of egg yolk, but higher than most other foods, with no cholesterol. Lycopene content in dried leaves was double that of tomato juice and ketchup. No other natural food can compete across this spectrum of nutrients.
Another very notable test result was for the nutrient betaine. Dried leaves had a betaine content of 19.38 mg/g. Doctor's betaine prescriptions for treatment of heart related problems typically contain from 1500 to 3000 mg of betaine per day. About three ounces of leaf material would supply the same betaine content, plus dozens of other supporting nutrients, at a fraction of the cost.
Phoenix Tears Nursery is a pioneer in the propagation and utilization of Lycium barbarum as a superfood plant. Seven years of research have documented propagation best practices, and ongoing testing continues to reveal the remarkable nutrient composition of Lycium barbarum, variety Phoenix Tears.
