Edible–medicinal substance · on the official list
Goji Berry
Also called：宁夏枸杞杞子
List entry
Three layers of annotation
Every item is written in three separate layers: classical text, folk custom, and modern literature. Nothing is guessed.
Layer 1 · Classical text Checked
Quoted verbatim with its source. No interpretation.
Original: 味苦，寒。主五内邪气，热中，消渴，周痹。久服坚筋骨，轻身不老。 — literal rendering: “Bitter, cold. It governs perverse qi within the five viscera, heat in the middle, wasting thirst, and generalised impediment. Taken long, it firms the sinews and bones, lightens the body and keeps one from growing old.”
《神农本草经》· 上品「枸杞」· 清 · 孙星衍、孙冯翼辑本（问经堂本）（Shennong Bencao Jing, upper grade, entry for gouqi, in the Sun Xingyan / Sun Fengyi reconstruction, Wenjingtang edition）
Original: 《本经》气味主治概根苗花实而言，补未分别，后人以实为枸杞子，根名地骨皮，主治稍不同矣。 — literal rendering: “The flavour, nature and indications given in the Bencao Jing cover root, shoot, flower and fruit together, without separating them. Later writers took the fruit as gouqizi and the root as digupi, whose indications differ slightly.”
《本草崇原》· 清 · 张志聪注、高世栻纂集 · 《医林指月》本（Bencao Chongyuan, Zhang Zhicong with Gao Shishi, Qing; as printed in the Yilin Zhiyue collection, 1767）
Quoted as it stands, without interpretation. The second passage settles one point: the “gouqi” of the Bencao Jing is the whole plant, while this entry is the fruit; the Chongyuan entry likewise lists digupi and gouqizi separately. This layer has been checked: the first passage was collated character by character against a scan of the Sun Xingyan / Sun Fengyi reconstruction of the Shennong Bencao Jing (Wenjingtang edition) and agrees; the second was collated against a scan of the Bencao Chongyuan, upper volume, as printed in the Yilin Zhiyue collection, and agrees — in the original it stands as a smaller interlinear note.
Layer 2 · Folk custom Checked
Who ate it, at which solar term, and how.
Original: 陟彼北山，言采其杞。 — literal rendering: “I climb that northern hill and gather its qi.”
《诗经 · 小雅 · 北山》· 汉 毛亨传、郑玄笺《毛诗诂训传》（Shijing, Minor Odes, poem “Northern Hill”, in the Mao Heng commentary / Zheng Xuan sub-commentary edition）
Original: 枸杞，宁安堡产者极佳，红大肉厚，家家种植。 — literal rendering: “Of goji, that grown at Ning’anbu is the finest: red, large, thick-fleshed. Every household plants it.”
《银川小志》· 物产「药之属」· 清 · 汪绎辰，乾隆二十年（1755）· 南京图书馆藏本（Yinchuan Xiaozhi, “Drugs” section under Products, Wang Yichen, 1755; Nanjing Library copy）
One records gathering qi in pre-Qin times; the other records every household growing it at Ning’anbu in Ningxia (today’s Zhongning) under the Qing. One caution: commentators have long disagreed over whether the qi of the Shijing is today’s goji, so that line stands only as circumstantial evidence of early gathering. This layer has been checked: one line was collated character by character against a scan of the Mao Heng commentary / Zheng Xuan sub-commentary edition (Minor Odes, Gufeng series, “Northern Hill”) and agrees; the other was collated against a scan of the Nanjing Library copy of the Yinchuan Xiaozhi, in the “Drugs” section under Products, and agrees.
Layer 3 · Modern literature Not searched
If no search has been run, it reads not searched.
No literature search has been run, so this layer reads not searched. It is never filled in from memory.
Safety notes unchecked
No particular warning is recorded for this entry. Being on the list is not a safety assessment.
How it is cooked at home
Goji rice porridge
The dried fruit can be chewed as it is, or steeped in water and added to porridge or soup. In porridge, put it in about ten minutes before the end; long cooking breaks it down.
Amounts are for cooking, not a recommended dose.
Solar terms
Review status
Draft · unchecked List data is taken from the official notices. English names, part used and safety notes have not been checked item by item yet.
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