THE INDIAN JUJUBE
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Zizyphus mauritiana
FAMILY: Rhamnaceae
The Jujubes have a long history as a cultivated plant and a confused history botanically. The concensus of opinion among the various authors is that it had its origin in either Syria or Persia and from there spread east to India, China, the East Indies and Malay: west to North Africa, southern Europe and finally to the Caribbean islands, Brazil and North America. Only three' dates of its travels are known with any certainty. Sometime before the middle of the first century A.D., the Jujube was brought from Syria to Rome by a consul, Sestus Papinius; it was brought from Europe to North Carolina in 1837, and the author of the article on the Jujube in Bailey's Cyclopedia says he brought it to California from France in 1876. These dates, though, pale beside the estimates made for its cultivation in China. David Fairchild says 4,000 years; Sturtevant puts it at 1200 years ago and the author of the article in Bailey plays it safe by saying it has been cultivated there for 'thousands of years'.
It is not at all clear how many species there are, what their proper names are nor their proper botanical description (see Popenoe pp.84-85). Hopefully, some of our readers can amend and augment what we write here.
For our purposes, there arc two Jujubes: the Indian Jujube (Zizyphus mauritiana Lam.) grows in dry, tropic regions and the other, the Chinese Jujube, (Zizyphus jujuba Mill.) grows and fruits in temperate climates. This article will concentrate on the Indian Jujube, but we will append information on its temperate cousin.
The Indian Jujube
The Indian Jujube, Zizyphus mauritiana, grows in the drier parts. of Africa and Asia, on some of the Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico, and is grown extensively in India and also in Thailand, from where a cultivar, the Kong Thai, was introduced to Florida by Maurice Kong. The Jujube is an evergreen tree, from 3-12 m tall (10 to 40 feet). The zig-zag nature of the leaf-carrying branches is very characteristic and all of the trees I have seen growing here in South Florida1 have one small thorn or spine at each node. The slightly toothed oval to ovoid-shaped leaves vary in size from one tree to another and are from 2-8 cm long. On some trees, the apex of the leaf is slightly acute and on others, cuspidate. The base of most mature leaves is oblique, and they have three distinct and characteristic veins originating from the petiole at the base of the leaf. The leaf is glabrous (smooth) on its upper side and tomentose (wooly) on the underside, but the underside of the leaves on all the trees I examined, with one exception, are glabrous (without hair). The leaves I observed were dark green above and a light gray-brown beneath, with numerous dark areas. It is a strong contrast, something like that of a satinleaf.2
It is in the axils of the leaves that clusters of small green flowers emerge, but I have seldom observed more than one fruit per axil. The fruit has an round to ovate shape, is green as it is growing, and yellow-green to brown when mature. They are about 2.5 cm in diameter and from 2 to 3 cm long. Those on Maurice Kong's tree (The Kong Thai Jujube) were between 4 and 6 cm long. The pulp is white, firm and crisp and, as with other features, the taste varies according to the specimen. Each fruit has a single stone or pit which contains two seeds.
The tree flowers from July to September and the fruit takes about 6 months to ripen. As it is a prolific bearer of fruit, the wait is well worth it. As Maurice Kong noted, "...it is an early spring fruit that can be enjoyed long before fruits such as lychee and mangos come into season."
The fruit, which has a high vitamin C content, can be eaten fresh. The crisp pulp is described by one author as resembling the texture of an apple, and those who tasted Mr. Kong's compared it to a crisp pear. It can also be dried, stewed or made into jellies, preserves or candies. It is sometimes made into a drink, and in the the Sudan, cakes are made from the pulp.
PROPAGATION
The Indian Jujube can be grown from seed. There are two seeds inside the stone, which is quite literally, a hard nut to crack. The pit or stone varies in size, being more or less than 2 cm long, and it has a very characteristic point at one end. If the entire stone is sown (and some recommend first cutting off the pointed end, which is easier said than done, germination will take place in 3 to 4 weeks. If the seeds are extracted, they will germinate in a week to ten days. The best way I have found to extract the seeds is to grasp the stone firmly along its long axis with a pair of carpenter's pincers, hold your hand over the pit and tool so the parts don't go flying, and squeeze. In most cases there will be a clean break and one of the seeds will come out and the other will have to be gently prized out. The seeds, which are only up to 6mm long, are a shiny medium brown, rounded on one side and flattened, with a concavity on the other side.
Bourke notes that 50-70% of the seeds may not he viable, and suggests placing them in a 17% to 18% salt solution: those that float should be discarded.
In India, where the Jujube has been cultivated for centuries, seeds are used primarily for the cultivation of rootstock. Budding and grafting are used to propagate favoured varieties. As the tree has not been widely grown here in South Florida, there is no local literature on this aspect available.
The presence of the thorns, which are small, should not deter anyone from growing this tree. It is certainly a fruit tree that is worth experimenting with. The Jujubes here in South Florida seem to have been unaffected by the Christmas freeze.
Maurice Kong has obviously made a start towards re-popularizing this uncommon fruit and we would be very interested in hearing from any other readers who have specimens of these trees among their plantings and experience grafting them.
USES
The fruits can be eaten fresh and, as it has a long fruiting span, can be enjoyed for several weeks. They will not ripen if picked green, but mature fruit can be refrigerated. The ripe fruits that fall (or are picked) and left to dry become quite wrinkled, but are still quite flavorful, and in this state they are known as Chinese Dates. There are two recipes in the recipe section by Roger Meyer of Fountain Valley, California, who is the Jujube Testing Chairman for the North American Fruit Explorers.
DATE: March 1992
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