Making Wolfberry Syrup
Wolfberry is the common name for a number of plants in the genus Lycium, which includes the famous superfood goji berry which can be the fruits of either Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense.
In the desert southwestern United States and Northern Mexico we have many species of Lycium, 11 species just in Arizona. The fruits on their own have a complex flavor. They also possess many of the same positive medicinal and nutritional attributes that goji berry possesses.
Lycium fremontii
We think wolfberries are best made as a syrup. And since we have a three-year-old plant of the one of our native species (Lycium fremontii) loaded with fruits, we decided to pick them and make a syrup of them.
If you choose to grow this plant, you won’t be disappointed. It is a spectacular wildlife plant because of the fruits. In fact, after we picked almost a pint jar full of fruits, our plant is still loaded with fruits for the birds or whoever wants to come along and snag a snack.
They can take full sun to even a decent amount of shade, though they look their best in more sun. Once established, they can live on rainfall, but grow better on irrigation, or being toward the bottom of a water-harvesting basin. They won’t need much else care, but be mindful that in June, sometimes they look dead. They go through a quick dormancy period which might lead you to think there is something wrong with your plant. They bounce back during the monsoon season, and really look good in the fall.
In springtime they will be loaded with flowers and then fruits, though they can set fruit almost any time of year.
Making Wolfberry Syrup
Wolfberry Syrup can be used anywhere a sweetener is used. Our favorite use for the syrup is in cocktails, or to sweeten up limeade or lemonade. It can store in the refrigerator for a year or more.
After you’ve picked your fruits, we think its best to dehydrate them somewhat. We used a heating lamp that was being used for our baby chickens and dried about a cup and a half of wolfberries. But you can use the warm setting in an oven, or sundry them outside. If you let a few get almost burnt, you will derive some flavor compounds from caramelization. This is a good thing. And a few of our berries turned almost black. But you don’t want too much of this. And you don’t need to entirely dry them. In fact, you can skip this step altogether if you want. We feel a little caramelization and concentration of the flavor is good, though.
Next bring about 2 cups of water to boil, add the berries, and let simmer for about 5 minutes or so. The time isn’t that important.
When you are done, let the mixture cool, and measure how much you have of the mixture. Add an equal amount of sugar as you have left of the wolfberry and water mixture, bring back to a boil and keep stirring. Once the water has boiled, turn it off but keep stirring. Finally, use a fine metal strainer and strain off the flesh and seeds into a jar.
Store in the refrigerator.
