As they fed the goji berries into the spectrometer, an interesting pattern
began to emerge. There seemed to be a great similarity between the
spectral signatures of goji berries from each of these regions. That was to
be expected, as all goji varieties have a close family resemblance. They are
all of the Lyciumgenus.
There were several peaks, however, that varied greatly in height for
different samples of berries. Spectral signature graphs of berries from
Xinjiang and Ningxia tended to exhibit the highest peaks, with the rest
of the samples showing peaks that were lower to varying degrees.
To the researchers, the discovery of these peaks indicated that there
might be some unknown active compounds present in the goji berry,
and that they were found in the famous berries of Ningxia and Xinjiang
at higher levels than in the less renowned berries.
There were two complicating observations, however:

1) Not all samples of Ningxia or Xinjiang berries had these high
peaks. Some of the samples had lower peaks, and it was noteworthy
that the lower-testing berries corresponded with years in which
there had not been as much sunlight or rainfall, or when late
summer temperatures had been abnormally low.

2) Conversely, there were some samples from lesser regions that tested
incredibly high, and once again there was a direct correlation
between the high spectral peaks and an exceptional growing season.
But doesn’t this make sense? Not every year is a “vintage” year, for goji
berries or for fine wines. In fact, in the last 30 years, one of France’s premier
vineyards has produced a “great” wine only three times. Twice during that
time, the wine has been pronounced to be virtually unfit to drink! To learn more about goji berries and the spectrometer click here.