Jujube Food & Medicine
For calm spirit, digestive aid, immune support and more…
“Every treasure is guarded by dragons. That’s how you can tell it’s valuable.” —Saul Bellow
A treasure found its way to my kitchen in Silver City, New Mexico when a friend and her husband came for a dinner date with a bag full of – well, dates! “I have a jujube tree!” she exclaimed, “there are so many fruits, but I don’t know what to do with them.”
I knew what to do with them. I make medicinal Chinese herbal soup stocks, and one of the ingredients is Hong Zao (red date) or Da Zao (big date), also known as jujube or Chinese date. But I had never seen them growing or tasted their sweetness fresh from the tree.
Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) is a native of China and cultivated for more than 4,000 years. Botanically, it is derived from a wild relative (Z. spinosa) and belongs to the buckthorn family. A cold-hardy deciduous fruit/ornamental tree that grows up to 30 ft in height with hard, strong wood, it leafs out in the spring and blooms from May to July with mature fruit from August to October.
Jujubes were first introduced to the U.S. from Europe by Robert Chisholm and planted in Beaufort, NC, in the early 1800s. Most of the early imports were from seedlings. USDA Agricultural explorer Frank N. Meyer introduced the first commercial cultivars distributed to USDA stations in California, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Florida. Scientists evaluated those introductions and realized the potential of jujubes in the U.S., especially in the Southwest, where sunshine is plentiful, summers are hot, and the climate is semiarid.
In New Mexico, where most soils are suitable for jujube production, two trees at the old Lyon’s & Campbell Ranch Headquarters in Gila, NM, just up the road from where I live and planted around 1910, continue to produce fruit. Other scattered trees in Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Albuquerque, Tucumcari, and Española are all growing and producing well. The “Jujube King” in Shandong Province, China, is 1,000 years old and still producing annually.
The fruits of Ziziphus jujuba are consumed worldwide because of their health benefits. They are nutritious, important in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and rich in vitamin C, bioflavonoids, antioxidants, and minerals. Dried jujubes can be eaten as a snack, replacing raisins and dates in baking.
Hang Zao in Traditional Chinese Medicine is considered energetically warm and sweet. It nourishes the blood, calms the spirit, and tonifies the spleen and stomach. Added to soup stock, they help to relieve restlessness and insomnia, and calm irritability. Hang Zao is neuroprotective and may help to prevent neurological diseases. Recommended for Qi deficiency syndromes of the stomach and spleen (Earth Element), blood deficiency, digestive issues, stress, colds and flu, and fatigue, I add it to my soup stocks along with other Chinese herbs to support the immune system and ward off colds and flu during the winter months.
Jujubes are a vital food and medicine with a long history in China. As written in an ancient book on Chinese herbal medicine (Huangdi Neijing 475-221 BC), jujube is one of China's five most valuable fruits. In an earlier book recording medicinal herbs (Shennong Bencao Jing 300 BC-200 AD), jujube was considered one of the superior herbal medicines that prolonged our lifespan by nourishing blood, improving sleep quality, and regulating the digestive system. Recent phytochemical and pharmacological discoveries have revealed that jujube’s active constituents contribute to immune-modulating, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer actions, with additional active components showing beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system.
“Our medicine is never any further than we are right now.”
–Thea Summer Deer, Wisdom of the Plant Devas: Herbal Medicine for a New Earth
Ziziphus jujuba's active constituents are extracted in water and best prepared as a decoction or combined with other foods to prepare a delicious soup without adverse drug interactions. It is generally not recommended for people with heat due to excess, damp heat, or phlegm.
I must confess that after my friend introduced me to her beautiful ornamental tree and its sweet, nutritious fruit, I fell in love. Determined to grow one of my own, I learned they are not easy to propagate and more than likely guarded by dragons. While they can be grown from seed, rootstock, or grafted, it is not as easy as it might appear.
Currently, there are over 800 jujube cultivars in China. Commercially available cultivars are limited. Research from China indicated that several regionally dominant cultivars are self-fertile; some can self-pollinate and set fruit, but cross-pollination improves fruit set and yield. A few cultivars are sterile without pollen, and pollinating insect activity is required. Common pollinating insects include ants, honey bees, wild bees, and flies. As for cultivars in the U.S., several tested self-fertile. My problem is that I don’t know what kind of jujubes came from my friend’s tree.
Because of seed availability and stress tolerance, most commercial jujube trees originated from their grafted wild cousin (Z. spinosa). But I am not inclined to undertake such an effort. Jujubes can also be propagated through root suckers if the mother plant is not from root suckers. If the mother plant is a grafted tree, the suckers are only good as rootstocks. Softwood cutting is also possible in a moist environment, but that does not describe the desert. I am saving some seeds and will attempt to grow these; I will also plant root suckers and cross my fingers that the mother plant is not from a grafted tree. Only time will tell if these develop to produce sweet, treasured fruit, though guarded by dragons they may be.
Jujube Date Shake
1 cup dairy or non-dairy milk (I prefer goat milk, or almond milk), 1/4 cup pitted jujubes, 1/2 banana, 4 ice cubes. Blend in Vitamix or comparable blender and enjoy.
References:
Jujube: Chinese Date in New Mexico