Jujube

Lore & Background

The jujube's precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation, but its origin is thought to be in eastern Asia, including southern and central China, India, Korea, and Japan. It has been widely dispersed through cultivation and is today grown both as a garden shrub and as an agricultural food crop. The tree tolerates a diverse range of climates, from temperate to tropical, and requires hot summers and sufficient water for acceptable fruiting. It survives temperatures down to about −15 °C (5 °F) and is commonly cultivated in Beijing. Wild jujube kernels have been found at sites in northern China dating to the Neolithic period, though specific claims about the Qi River basin are not supported by established archaeological evidence. Today, it is most widely grown in China. In Madagascar, the invasive species is actually Ziziphus mauritiana, not Ziziphus jujuba. Its seeds are easily spread by zebus, which eat the fruit. The fruit is an edible oval drupe that when immature is smooth-green with the consistency and taste of an apple with lower acidity, maturing brown to purplish-black and eventually wrinkled, resembling a small date. The leaves contain saponin and ziziphin, which suppresses the ability to perceive sweet taste.

Reader's Guide

The jujube holds significance as a food crop with a long history of cultivation in Asia, particularly in China, where it has been grown for thousands of years. Its fruit is versatile, consumed fresh, dried, candied, smoked (as black jujubes in Vietnam), and used in teas, juices, vinegars, wines, and pickles. In Korea, jujubes are used in traditional dishes such as daechucha, yakshik, and samgyetang. The tree's tolerance of droughts, flooding, and cold winters allows it to be cultivated in diverse habitats, from mountain to desert, provided underground water is available in summer. In North America, jujubes are grown as a garden shrub throughout most of the southern half of the continent, particularly in parts of California. The main disease affecting jujubes is witch's broom, prevalent in China and Korea, though North American plantings currently are not affected by any pests or diseases. In Europe, insect larvae, including those of the false codling moth, have consumed 80%–90% of the jujube crop in recent years. The name jujube derives from Latin jujuba and ultimately from Ancient Greek ζίζυφον, and is not connected to the botanically unrelated jojoba.

Did You Know?

• The jujube is often confused with the closely related Indian jujube, Ziziphus mauritiana.
• The leaves contain ziziphin, which suppresses the ability to perceive sweet taste.
• In Madagascar, the invasive species is Ziziphus mauritiana, not Ziziphus jujuba, and its seeds grow easily in zebu faeces.