Chinese Jujube

Chinese jujubes ready to eat

Fruit:

The fruit is a drupe, varying from round to elongate and from cherry-size to plum-size depending on cultivator. It has a thin, edible skin surrounding whitish flesh of sweet, agreeable flavor. The single hard stone contains two seeds.

The immature fruit is green in color, but as it ripens it goes through a yellow-green stage with mahogany-colored spots appearing on the skin as the fruit ripens further. The fully mature fruit is entirely red-brown. Shortly after becoming fully red, the fruit begins to soften and wrinkle.

The fruit can be eaten after it becomes wrinkled, but many people prefer them during the interval between the yellow-green-stage and the full red stage.

At this stage the flesh is crisp and sweet, reminiscent of an apple. Under dry conditions jujubes lose moisture, shrivel and become very sweet (20% natural sugars).

Description:

The crop could have a bright future here as it thrives in warm, dry climates and the fruit is highly sought after by Chinese and South East Asian consumers.

Trees tolerate salt better and require less water than most fruit trees enabling successful cultivation outside traditional orchard areas.

It is a small deciduous tree or shrub reaching a height of 5–10 m, usually with thorny branches. The leaves are shiny-green, ovate-acute, 2–7-cm wide and 1–3-cm broad, with three conspicuous veins at the base, and a finely toothed margin.

The flowers are small, 5-mm wide, with five inconspicuous yellowish-green petals.

The fruit is an edible oval drupe 1.5–3-cm deep; 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 stone similar to an olive stone.

Growing:

Jujubes should be given a warm, sunny location, but are otherwise relatively undemanding. Given adequate heat and sun, the trees will thrive without any special care. They should not be planted in the shade of other trees.

Jujubes tolerate many types of soils, but prefer a sandy, well-drained soils and do less well in heavy, poorly drained soil.They are able to grow in soils with high salinity or high alkalinity.

One of the outstanding qualities of the jujube tree are its tolerance of drought conditions. Regular watering, though, is important to assure a quality fruit crop.

Fertilizer requirements have not been studied, but jujubes appear to do well with little or no fertilization. Light broadcast applications of a balanced fertilizer during the growing season will speed growth.

Pruning:

Un-pruned trees produce as well as trees that have been pruned. Extensive winter pruning, however, will keep the plants in better health and produce more easily obtainable fruit.

Propagation:

Most Chinese cultivators are whip grafted or budded onto a thorny root-stalk which produces many suckers from the roots. There is evidence that jujube cultivators will root on hard or soft wood cuttings. However, successes have been limited to date with this process of plant reproduction. Jujubes also can be propagated from seed, although they do not come true. Most jujube cultivators produce fruit without cross-pollination, but seeds from such self-pollination are usually not viable (such as from the Li or Lang cultivators)

A single seed is inside the fruit and the dark brown appearance and this seed gives rise to the common name, Chinese Date.

Jujubes should be set out 4-5 meters apart since they require high light intensities for good production. Upon setting out new, bare root trees, top the plant to 3 or 4 feet and remove all side branches to leave only a whip. New, stronger branches will emerge from each bud just below the point where the old branches were pruned.

Pests and diseases:

The Chinese jujube appears to have no serious disease, insect, or nematode pests so no spraying is necessary.

Harvest:

The crop ripens non-simultaneously, and fruit can be picked for several weeks from a single tree. If picked green, jujubes will not ripen. Ripe fruits may be stored at room temperature for about a week.

The fruit may be eaten fresh, dried or candied. Fresh fruit is much prized by certain cultures and is easily sold in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian markets. The texture and flavor more closely resemble that of an apple than a date.

Tree dried fruit stores indefinitely and may have good marketing potential as it dries on the tree without the use of a sulfur preservative.

Some keen jujube fanciers pick their own fruit after making arrangements with growers.

Distribution:

Its precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation, but is thought to be in southern Asia, between Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, northern India, Bangladesh, the Korean peninsula, and southern and central China, and also southeastern Europe though more likely introduced there.