China
Ripe wolfberries, Zhongning County, Ningxia, China
The majority of commercially produced wolfberries come from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of north-central China and the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China, where they are grown on plantations. In Zhongning County, Ningxia,
wolfberry plantations typically range between 100 and 1000 acres (or 500–6000 mu) in area. As of 2005, over 10 million mu
have been planted with wolfberries in Ningxia.
Cultivated along the fertile aggradational floodplains of the Yellow River for more than 600 years, Ningxia wolfberries have
earned a reputation throughout Asia for premium quality sometimes described commercially as "red diamonds".
Government releases of annual wolfberry production, premium fruit grades, and export are based on yields from Ningxia, the region
recognized with
* The largest annual harvest in China, accounting for 42% (13 million kg, 2001) of the nation's total yield of wolfberries, estimated at approximately 33 million kg (72 million lb) in 2001.
* Formation of an industrial association of growers, processors, marketers, and scholars of wolfberry cultivation to promote the berry's commercial and export potential.
* The nation's only source of therapeutic grade ("superior-grade") wolfberries used by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine.
In addition, commercial volumes of wolfberries grow in the Chinese regions of Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei
When ripe, the oblong, red berries are tender and must be picked carefully or shaken from the vine into trays to avoid spoiling. The fruits
are preserved by drying them in full sun on open trays or by mechanical dehydration employing a progressively increasing series of heat exposure over 48 hours.
Wolfberries are celebrated each August in Ningxia with an annual festival coinciding with the berry harvest. Originally held in Ningxia's capital, Yinchuan, the festival has been based since 2000 in Zhongning County, an important center
of wolfberry cultivation for the region. As Ningxia's borders merge with three deserts, wolfberries are also planted to control
erosion and reclaim irrigable soils from desertification.
China, the main supplier of wolfberry products in the world, had total exports generating US$120 million in 2004. This production
derived from 82,000 hectares farmed nationwide, yielding 95,000 tons of wolfberries.
