Similar to an olive or small date in size, fresh jujube fruit has the texture and crisp, bright flavor of an apple. JUJUBE!

Similar to an olive or small date in size, fresh jujube fruit has the texture and crisp, bright flavor of an apple.

Jujube From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ziziphus jujuba, commonly called

jujube,; sometimes jujuba), red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family.

Description It is a small deciduous tree or shrub reaching a height of 16–39 ft, usually with thorny branches.

The fruit is an edible oval drupe, when immature it is smooth-green, with the consistency and taste of an apple, maturing brown to purplish-black, and eventually wrinkled, looking like a small date.

There is a single hard seed similar to an olive pit.

Jujube, dried Jujube fruit naturally turns red upon drying.

Over 400 cultivars have been selected. The tree tolerates a wide range of temperatures and rainfall, though it requires hot summers and sufficient water for acceptable fruiting.

The jujube, Z. jujuba grows in cooler regions of Asia. Five or more other species of Ziziphus are widely distributed in milder climates to hot deserts of Asia and Africa. In Madagascar, jujube trees grow extensively in the western half of the island, from the north all the way to the south. It is widely eaten by free ranging zebus, and its seeds grow easily in zebu feces.

Culinary use

The freshly harvested, as well as the candied dried fruit, are often eaten as a snack, or with coffee.

Smoked jujubes are consumed in Vietnam and are referred to as black jujubes.

Both China and Korea produce a sweetened tea syrup containing jujube fruit in glass jars, and canned jujube tea or jujube tea in the form of teabags. To a lesser extent, jujube fruit is made into juice and jujube vinegar.

They are used for making pickles in west Bengal and Bangladesh.

In China, a wine made from jujube fruit is called hong zao jiu. Sometimes pieces of jujube fruit are preserved by storing them in a jar filled with baijiu (Chinese liquor), which allows them to be kept fresh for a long time, especially through the winter. Such jujubes are called jiu zao (literally "alcohol jujube"). The fruit is also a significant ingredient in a wide variety of Chinese delicacies..

In Vietnam and Taiwan, fully mature, nearly ripe fruit is harvested and sold on the local markets and also exported to Southeast Asian countries. The dried fruit is used in desserts in China and Vietnam, such as ching bo leung, a cold beverage that includes the dried jujube, longan, fresh seaweed, barley, and lotus seeds.

In Korea, jujubes are called daechu and are used in daechucha teas and samgyetang.

In Croatia, especially Dalmatia, jujubes are used in marmalades, juices, and rakija (fruit brandy).

In Lebanon, Jordan, and other Middle Eastern countries, the fruit is eaten as snacks or alongside a dessert after a meal. On his visit to Medina, the 19thcentury English explorer, Sir Richard Burton, observed that the local variety of jujube fruit was widely eaten. He describes its taste as "like a bad plum, an unrepentant cherry and an insipid apple."

In Palestine a hundred years ago, a close variety was common in the Jordan valley and around Jerusalem. The bedouin valued the fruit, calling it nabk. It could be dried and kept for winter or made into a paste which was used as bread.

In Persian cuisine, the dried drupes are known as annab, while in neighboring Azerbaijan, it is commonly eaten as a snack, and is known as innab.

in Pakistan and parts of India and is eaten both fresh and dried. Often, the dry fruit (ber) was used as a padding in leather horse saddles in parts of Baluchistan in Pakistan.

Traditionally in India, the fruit is dried in the sun and the hard nuts are removed. Then, it is pounded with tamarind, red chillies, salt, and jaggery. In some parts of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, fresh whole ripe fruit is crushed with the above ingredients and dried under the sun to make cakes called ilanthai vadai or regi vadiyalu (Telugu).

In Madagascar, jujube fruit is eaten fresh or dried. People also use it to make jam. A jujube honey is produced in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Italy has an alcoholic syrup called brodo di giuggiole.

In Senegal Jujube is called Sii dem and the fruit is used as snack. The fruit is turned into dried paste used by school kids. [Ever curious. Can you tell I was a Jr. High Science teacher? Vincenzo P. :)]

I I came across these in my neighborhood, Dean Burdick’s old house, a few years ago. I was so curious I knocked on the door to ask about them. I found a tree ripening just down from the yellow apples I harvested two months ago here between the temple apartments on FS block. : )