"What's a jujube?"
I get asked that a lot. Usually by someone holding the bag at arm's length like it might go off in their hand. And fair play, because the name sounds like something you'd pick out of the pick 'n' mix at the cinema, and the things themselves look like a pile of wrinkly red conkers.
They're dried fruit. That's the quick answer.
The longer one is below, along with how I get them ready, the five minute mug thing from our video, and where they end up in cooking (congee and soup, mostly).
Right, so what is a jujube?
A small fruit off a tree. Ziziphus jujuba, if you want the Latin, which nobody ever does. In Chinese they're hong zao, which just means red dates, and that's the name you'll see on most packets over here too.
Bit misleading, that name. They aren't the sticky dates your aunt puts out at Christmas. Totally different plant. The "date" part is really about the look of them: dark red, wrinkled skin, stone in the middle.
Ours come from Xinjiang, right out in the far west of China. Hot. Dry. Desert. Which is sort of perfect when you think about it, because a fruit growing in that kind of heat is halfway to dried already.
In a Chinese kitchen nobody makes a fuss about them. They're not a special occasion thing. You grab them without thinking. Same as a stock cube. Same as that tin of chopped tomatoes that has lived at the back of the cupboard since about 2019.
And the taste?
Picture a date and an apple having a baby. Honestly, that's the closest I've got, and most people who try one nod along.
The skin goes first. Thin, slightly crisp, goes almost papery under your teeth. Then you're into the flesh. Soft. Sweet. Bit spongy (nice spongy, not bath sponge spongy). There's a caramel sort of note in there. But it's nowhere near as rich or gooey as a proper date. Lighter. More fruit than toffee.
And the apple? It sits at the back. Faint. Think of a dried apple ring you found in your coat pocket.
Big ones and small ones aren't quite the same, by the way. We do the larger da hong zao as well as the standard ones, and the big ones are softer and spongier. Eating them out of the bag, I'd go big every time. For cooking either does the job.
Getting them ready: tear and deseed
Every single one has a stone in it. Every one! It's hard and pointy and you don't want to find it with a back tooth.
So this is what I do. I pinch the date at both ends and tear it down the side with my thumbnail, and it opens up like a tiny red book. The stone is sat right there in the middle. Finger flick. Or the end of a teaspoon if you bite your nails like me.
Tearing matters more than you'd think. Even if you can't be bothered with the stone, open the fruit up. The skin is what keeps the sweetness locked in, so a whole date sat in hot water gives you very little back. Torn, it's another story.
Feeding kids? Stones out. Every time, no exceptions. Same goes for that one person at the table who eats fast and never looks down.
Doing a big batch for soup? Kitchen scissors. Snip, open, stone out, next one. Saves your thumbnail.
The five minute mug
This is the one from our video, and it's the best way I know to try a jujube for the first time.
Split one open. Drop it in a mug. Water from the kettle over the top. Then leave it alone for five minutes.
Go and do something else, because watching it doesn't make it go faster (I've tested this, a lot). When you come back the date's gone soft and plump, and the water has turned a pale gold with a gentle sweetness to it. Not sugary. Just tastes of the fruit.
Drink the water. Then eat the date with a spoon. Don't you dare pour that date away, it's the best bit and loads of people just tip it in the sink.
Funnily enough that's more or less what the pack tells you to do anyway. Hot water, eat the fruit, drink the water. With the big ones, about three dates is a portion.
Want to go further? They're often simmered with dried goji berries and dried ginger root. We've got a whole post on goji and red dates coming up in a couple of weeks though, so I'll leave that one there for now.
Congee and soup
This is where red dates really earn their spot in the cupboard.
Congee first. If you've never had it, it's a soft rice porridge, slow cooked until the rice falls apart, eaten all over China and very often for breakfast. Torn red dates go in at the start with the rice. As the pot ticks away they let their sweetness out into the whole thing, so you don't need sugar, and by the end they're plump and soft and you find them as you go. Bit like finding the good bits in a Christmas pudding. We've got a proper congee recipe on the blog already if you want the full method.
Soup's the same idea. Chicken soup, a pork broth, anything that's going to bubble on the hob for a while. Tear the dates, stones out, in early. They take the edge off all that savoury and leave a soft sweetness right in the background. The pot just tastes fuller. Nobody at the table is going to say "ooh, dates". They'll say it's a nice soup, and you can take the credit.
Early is the important word there. These aren't a last minute thing. They want time in the pot to soften.
Don't overdo the number, though. Too many and your soup starts drifting towards pudding. I did that once and we don't talk about it.
They go in oat porridge as well, and stews, and some people bake with them. I mostly don't bake. Nobody wants that.
Or just eat them
Nothing wrong with that at all. Straight out of the bag, stone out first. Dry, they're chewy. If you'd like them softer, that five minute mug trick sorts it.
A few in a lunchbox next to an apple makes a nice change from a box of raisins. Kids seem to like the tearing part, too (supervise the stone).
One thing I always look at on dried fruit is whether it's been treated with sulphur. Ours haven't.
Keeping them
Quick one. Once the bag's open, seal it, or tip the lot into a jar with a lid that actually screws on. Then somewhere cool and dry. Not the cupboard above the kettle. Not the windowsill either.
Damp gets in and they go sticky. Too warm and they dry out until they're like little red pebbles.
If yours have gone a bit hard, don't bin them. Hot water is exactly what they're for.
Worth a go?
If you've walked past a bag of these in a Chinese supermarket and wondered, just get one. Tear it open, kettle on, five minutes. That's the whole commitment. Worst case, you've had a cup of hot water and a sweet little fruit, and there are worse ways to spend a Tuesday afternoon.
We sell dried jujube red dates at Vita Herbal Nutrition, in 100g and 500g bags, plus a 1kg bag of the big ones.