Jujube Fruit

Today it was a nice, cold, dry Saturday. The sun was shining enough for me not to bear to stay inside, so I decided not to join my friends at the cafe. Of course I learnt afterwards that most of them went to gather olives anyway, as it's the time of year when olive oil is produced, but I, too, had the pleasure of touching a tree. And now that I am back, I would like to share with you images of the fruit I picked, which is often found in gardens throughout Greece.

Ziziphus zizyphus (from Greek ζίζυφον, zizyfon) commonly called jujube (sometimes jujuba), red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus, used primarily as a fruiting shade tree.

The neighbour who cultivates this tree in his garden was gathering the jujube fruit today, when he happened to see me and invited me over. We shook the tree carefully, having spread some old sheets beneath it, and so all the jujube that fell on the ground were ours!

These fruit are at their best when they are ripe and start to dry, while they are still on the tree. If you collect them at that point, you will enjoy them sweet, and you can even dry them further and keep them for about a year. They are date-like, but more interesting, so distinctly sweet and warm to the taste, and to me they are a sign that Christmas is near! What a blessing!