HK SOUP ORIGINS: Goji Berries
Cantonese “lo fo tong”, or "old boiled soup”, is one of the staples of Hong Kong diets. HK-Cityguide’s writers delved into the origins of the soup’s ingredients that find their way into the city’s shops and our dining tables.
As dawn breaks, the loud and clear honking of the bus echoes through the streets and alleys of Kaiyu, a village in the mid-south of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. The dry breeze blows against the headscarves of local women lining up to get on. All of them are carrying buckets and heading ten miles away to start their day.
Next to the Tengger Desert, the women get to work in the bright sun and the dry wind, filling their buckets methodically with what they call “Hong Bao” (literal translation: red treasure). They are picking the best quality goji berries in China that were, since the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), considered a tribute fit to be presented to emperors.
Backbone of Ningxia
Today, of course, you can find goji berries in food dishes, soups, the thermos flasks of old people in China, and the superfood breakfast bowls of young people around the world. Indeed, nowadays the dried fruits come in different variations such as berry juice or blended into baked goods or even in the form of goji berries supplement. This vast demand from China and the world makes it the backbone of the region’s farming industry.
Ningxia was once a significant source of food supply for ancient dynasties and a vital stop of the Silk Road. It is next to the Jade Gate that allows merchants to commute to the East and the West. Through the Silk Road, the East was introduced with foreign spices and fruits, in return, the West was introduced with the treasure of Ningxia.
Unlike the part of the province that straddles the river and earned the name “Jiangnan of the North Border” for the prosperous crops that grow on its fertile soils, the mid-south region of Ningxia never did benefit from the Yellow River.
Instead, the mid-south of the province is considered the driest and windiest region of China. Low annual rainfall, high solar radiation, and saline-alkaline soil make it a challenging task to grow any crops on this land. But, miraculously, goji berry trees thrive in such a barren environment.
Miracles of Berries
In fact, goji berries demand such an unconventional environment. While most crops much prefer riverside land, goji berries planted in such fertile conditions end up covered in mold. Instead, goji berries require ten hours of sun exposure a day, low humidity, and soil that is slightly alkali to flourish. In the aridness of mid-south Ningxia, the plant found its perfect home.
By harvesting their red treasure, the mid-south farmers earn a substantial income and generate a considerable amount too for the local area. Research carried out by local scientists has also shown that farming goji berries for three years alter the pH level of the land, remedying the alkaline levels of the soil. A slightly acidic soil translates into more options for the farmers, and a more sustainable local farming industry, as they are no longer restricted to only one crop.
Being a neighbor of deserts, not only means farmers have to face problems like lack of rainfall but also their farmland being eroded and devoured by desertification inch by inch. Desertification, in a brief explanation, is a process of land degradation. The mild wind carries the sand of the desert eroding the land it travels and suffocating the land it covers.
Once the land is impacted by this process, it is difficult to reverse. Nevertheless, not only cultivating goji berries allows the possibility of a diverse plantation in the future, the roots of goji berries stabilize the soil and shelter them from the mild wind from the desert. No wonder it has been referred to as treasure by the locals for generations since it provides them with the financial support they need for the present while promising them a diverse industry in the future.
Surprise from the Berries
As one of the ten most common Chinese medicine ingredients, the dried goji berries do not only appear in traditional medicine cuisine but wine, tea, and dessert as well because of their sweet taste and numerous health benefits of goji berries. It is rich in amino acids, fiber and dense with vitamin A and C. Eating goji berries moderately improves our immune system, nourishes the liver and the eyes health, and even reduces blood pressure.
Combine it with other health food such as snow fungus, dried lily bulb, and red dates, then boil them for an hour. An easy yet comforting dessert is here to soothe the soul of the locals after a long working day.
Getting here you need to cross the Mu Us Desert. What used to take up to 14 hours of traveling, now has been reduced to three hours because of the Yinchuan-Xi'an High-speed Railway, which connects the high-altitude northwest region with the rest of China.
Stepping out from the locomotive, you’ll be met with dazzling sunshine and dry wind, and locals who are likely to welcome you with a goji berry tea – or if the occasion calls for it, a toast with local wine brewed with, naturally, goji berries.
