Jujube Fruits
 

This has been a bumper year for jujubes even with little or no rain for the past month. I do have an irrigation system and have been running it a few hours daily as the fruit is maturing. Haven't sprayed but stinkbugs and ants are aware of these goodies. They taste like a sweet, crisp apple.

There's a hard spindle-shaped seed in the middle so we just roll and chew until we get most of it off. We also like to cut off the fleshy part and toss it in a salad for a crisp, sweet munchies to go with the veggies. Most any salad dressing goes well with the flavor and crunch.

Wish the story were all positive but it's worth mentioning that they have thorns and the roots sprout all over the place-best to plant them in a turf location and mow the root sprouts off. They can be quite painful to discover in a flower bed that you're hand weeding.

So AKA Dragon's Claw is the jujube displayed on a plate and Honey Jar is the one on a tree branch.

As the trees mature you'll be picking lots from a ladder. Pruning early to encourage branching will help but too much pruning will reduce production.

Never tasted it, only heard the name (usually in Asian dramas...)..!
Would love to have some... well, not going to happen in my climate.

I get them as dried red dates in a Chinese grocery shop, love them.

[IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Ziziphus_jujuba_MS_2461.JPG[/IMG]

They resemble the Crab Apple. Are the dried fruits seeded like most dried dates? I hate biting into a hard seed.

[QUOTE=DonDuck;743443]They resemble the Crab Apple. Are the dried fruits seeded like most dried dates? I hate biting into a hard seed.[/QUOTE]
They are more like an apple but they have a seed in the middle.
I used to hand feed them to ostriches.:lol:
Best tree you could ever grow down here and there are many verities.

[QUOTE=DonDuck;743443]They resemble the Crab Apple. Are the dried fruits seeded like most dried dates? I hate biting into a hard seed.[/QUOTE]

There are deseeded ones too.

I've started telling people not to swallow the seed. They're not just hard most are pointed on both ends. No point in tempting fate. The fruit has great fiber though and the fresh fruits are sweet and crisp. I've eaten the Chinese or Red dates (seed removed/cooked in a heavy syrup and dried) and they are very good. The commercial dried jujubes from China weren't too good but I only bought some once so I need to try drying some myself. Otherwise the fresh product is only available from late July to early September.