Goji, or Lycium barbarum is a sprawling shrub with long, flexible canes and clusters of small, grey-green leaves. The flowers are a brilliant royal purple and they appear in late spring/early summer along the length of the canes. They give way to juicy, bright red fruits that resemble small peppers. They grow sweeter as they mature on the plant. Goji plants continue to flower and produce fruit through the first heavy frost.

 

Although they’ve only recently become a trendy health food, the berries have a long history. They have been grown in China for medicinal purposes since 2600 B.C. They are packed with antioxidants and tout the ability to boost the immune system, normalize blood pressure, improve skin tone and even help prevent cancer.

 

“In competition to other fruits, goji is always on top,” Kordes said. “It has more than double the amount of antioxidants of pomegranates, which is the second-highest fruit.”

 

Goji berries have become a major industry in China, as the fruit has ridden the wave of popularity. Thousands of tons of berries are exported each year from 45 million goji shrubs. However, Chinese-grown berries tend to be heavily-sprayed with pesticides. Kordes saw an opportunity.

 

“As the goji berry has become more and more noticed, demand has increased,” Kordes said. “People like them, but stores cannot get enough dried berries that aren’t full of pesticides from China. So there are not enough berries on the market.”

 

In 2010, he began breeding the plant for two qualities: berry size and sweetness. He brought two cultivars to the U.S., where they will be grown under the Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs program. The 2013 introductions are known as Sweet Lifeberry and Big Lifeberry, respectively, and have spent the last two years being tested at Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, Mich. The difference between the two cultivars is that Sweet Lifeberry has a greater quantity of smaller berries, while Big Lifeberry will provide fewer, larger berries.