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Thursday, September 20, 2007

JUJUBE



  • Common Name: Jujube
  • Vernacular Name: Common jujube, Chinese date, Red date
  • Scientific Name: Ziziphus zizyphus
  • Specimens From: China
  • Specimens Weight: 15 gm (Average weight per fruit)
Jujube has been cultivated in China for at least a few thousand years back, with several hundred of known cultivars. It is still immensely popular till the present day, especially for the traditional and medicinal purposes.

Depending on the various cultivars, it can be round, oval or elongated. It is usually olive-sized or slightly larger, with a single brown stone. Appearance somewhat like a wild crabapple. As you can see from the above photo, the immature jujube is green, ripens to yellowish-green with red spots appearing. It will turn fully red when mature and starts to wrinkle at the last stage.

It can be eaten whole, minus the stone, at any of the ripening stages. Crisp and mildly sweet when green to red but soft and sweet when in the wrinkled, dried stage.



Red Dates [Dried, big and small]
The dried fruits, which are commonly called "red dates" even though it is not a true date but it looks one. It is very popular and often use in Chinese/Korean soups, drinks and desserts.

The bigger the dates, the quality is better and hence it is twice as expensive compare to the smaller dates.





Red Dates Drink
Try a red date drink. Pour boiling water and let it cover and simmer it for about fifteen minutes or so. It will be better to cut the dates into half, so as to let the pulp of the dates to immerse into the drink. It may taste only slightly sweet but that is enough for a good, healthy drink with no sugar added.  

Jujube may look small but it is extremely high in vitamin C. It is a fruit that can heal sore throat. Excuse me, I think I need one now.


Fruit: Jujube; Ziziphus zizyphus; Rhamnaceae. 





14 comments:

kml said...

We used to have jujubes candy when I was young, and they were a very hard yet chewy confection and were various fruit flavors and colors.

I didn't realize there was a jujube fruit. Will have to see if I can find some!

Swaruchy said...

Hi Fruity.......I am bowled dear :-)
When ur title said 'jujube'.....as klm said,it reminded me of that candy we used to have when we were children......My mouth still waters thinking of them.
Now here u are with a fruit named 'jujube'.....I really really wonder where u collect all these samples from and present them to us....
Fabulous as usual dear....Great great job :-) Cheers....Sirisha

Simon said...

This fruit looks familiar. I may have seen or tasted it before.

Unknown said...

Hey I really like your blog:) I'm a fruit lover too. Love the layout. Have a great day.

urban vegan said...

Never tried one. I want to!

Mom Knows Everything said...

I have never heard of them before, but like the others I have had the candy before.

Anonymous said...

The Jujube is the base fruit in a new nutritional drink called Bazi. It also contains goji, acai, mangosteen, pomegranate and other juices.

Drink Jujube

Anonymous said...

What a coincidence: both you and me are posting about friuty or spicy things from China!

Wishing you a great end to your week:-)

Sue said...

Interesting, Fruity. I wonder if the candy got its name from this.

Fruity said...

Sorry for the late reply:

Hi kml, sirisha, tammy & sue:
Those are jujube candy, popular as snacks at the movies. Though it is the same name, it got nothing to do with this fruit, not even in its ingredients.

I travel often and sampler any fruits that crosses my path, so it's easy for me to blog about it.

Hi neo & urban:
Some fruits do look alike but tastes differently. It is not easy to find one in the States

Hi carolyn:
Welcome aboard. Enjoy your stay here.

Hi rennyba:
Oh is it. I'll swing by later

Cheers from Fruity

Anonymous said...

I have just moved to the tiny island of Paxos, Greece. The jujube grows wild here (a local introduced them to me) and tastes absolutely fantastic. Very sweet and crispy.

Do you think it is possible that it "always" grew wild here, or is it more likely that they were brought to the island for cultivation a few centuries ago?

Are there other names for this fruit?

Anonymous said...

Fruit with medicinal property is good . I am happy to read it .Thanks .

suman
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Free Satellite TV

Anonymous said...

I live in Thailand and just had my first jujube. My first remark was that it tastes like an apple, only lighter. Fantastic fruit.

Anonymous said...

GREAT WEB PAGE...you have solved our mystery...what fruit is growing in our backyard? JUJUBE!
in BKSFLD CA, bought home w/many asian fruit trees. searched for 2 wks online...THANKS for the ANSWER.
still have one more unknown fruit to find. PS - your PHOTOS made all the difference.