The Indian Jujube
Tropical Fruit News is from the Rare Fruit Council International Miami RFCI
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. Hopefully, some of our
readers can amend and augment what we write here.
For our purposes, there are 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 Florida 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.
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 pried 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.
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