Dried Goji berries are a healthy and convenient snack for those who want to experience the healthy benefits of the Goji fruit. They are widely available in health stores and online shops or other websites and can be packed in a bag or lunch as a snack, giving you energy and a host of other healthy bonuses. Some people dry their own Goji berries rather than buying them online or from a store, but either way this little fruit can help to treat and prevent certain diseases, help you lose weight and give you energy to get through the day.
Benefits of Goji Berries
Many health benefits have been linked to Goji berries. One of the most widely sought after benefits is anti aging. Goji berries stimulate the release of HGH, or human growth hormone, which do more than just restore youthfulness to the body. They also improve memory, help you heal faster and restore sexual desire. The polysaccharides and anti-oxidants that exist in the Goji fruit can fight the free radicals that cause premature aging and help you to fight aging on two fronts at once, by producing HGH and fighting free radicals.
Other benefits of Goji include helping to treat insomnia, with studies conducted in Asia confirming that all of the patients who took Goji experiencing better sleep. Goji also helps your liver because it contains cerebroside, an enzyme that protects liver cells. Dries Goji berries may help to improve digestion and conditions like atrophic gastritis and the polysaccharides in Goji help to even out immune response. Other benefits of Goji that have been reported have been improved memory, better kidney health and heart health, as well as helping to restore sexual function, treat depression, vision problems and inflammation and joint problems, and has even been linked in the treatment and prevention of some cancers.
How to Dry Your Own Goji Berries
First, you will need to rinse off the Goji berries that you have procured to make your dried ones. You can rinse them and them put them on a towel to dry, or use a soft cloth to dry them if you are in a hurry. Check through them for any berries that aren’t yet ripe, which differs slightly depending up on which region you got them from. Also discard any that are moldy. Next, take a cooling rack like a baker would use and put it on top of a standard baking pan. The size isn’t important as long as you can fit the cooling rack on it. Cover the cooling rack with cheese cloth.
Next, place the Goji berries on the cheese cloth and spread them around so that no berries are touching each other. If you have a lot of berries you may have to use two different pans to dry them. Place the berries inside the over on the very top rack. Your going to want to turn your ovens onto the lowest setting that you can, which is either going to be 150 degrees Fahrenheit, at the oven’s “warm” setting, or it could simply start at 200 degrees. Leave the door to the oven all the way open.
Next, let the berries dry in the oven with the door open and at the lowest setting for twelve hours maximum. However, you should check them every four hours and you will be able to tell when they are done when they are leathery and pliable. The reason that the drying time varies between four and twelve hours is because ovens have different temperatures, people place different amounts of berries on the pan and the humidity and the amount of water in the fruit are both factors as well. Finally, after the berries have dried, let them cool before you store them in a Ziploc bag. Store them long term in the pantry or the freezer.
Ideas for Using Goji Berries
There are many ways that you can use dried Goji berries. One option is to simply eat them right out of the Ziploc bag. They make a handy snack for traveling or taking a lunch to work but they can also be added to other foods. Many people add Goji to their cereal, and others use Goji berries in their own favorite home made trail mix. Some people also put their Goji berries into muffins, scones, energy bars and other baked goods. In Asia, they add Goji berries to soup, and you may want to try that as well, or you could add them to a smoothie or use them in another one of your favorite beverages.