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!

Traditional Greek Lemon Sweet

A friend, who has a sweet lemon tree in her garden, gave me a large and heavy bag full of sweet lemons the other day. As they were too big to be used otherwise in the kitchen, I thought I should try and make them into a traditional Greek sweet fruit preserve, which is excellent when a 'hospitality emergency' arises, or just amazingly refreshing with Greek coffee and cold water, not to mention how wonderful it is as a dessert after a meal -tastes pretty much like 'limoncello', only without the alcohol. If you don't have large, sweet lemons, you can use bergamots or oranges in exactly the same way.


INGREDIENTS

7-8 large sweet lemons, or oranges or bergamots, preferably with a thick rind
1 kilo of sugar per kilo of fruit
approx. 750ml water
a few drops of lemon juice


PREPARATION

1. Weigh the fruit and adjust the amount of sugar that you are going to need.



2. Wash the lemons and start zesting them, using the grater. You may find this a tedious job, but do not give up! OK, you may take a rest for a few minutes...



3. Now for the somewhat tough part: Cut the lemons in quarters, and use a knife and a spoon to remove the flesh of every quarter, occasionally using your hand to feel your way between the flesh and the rind, while you're separating them. You may want to keep your eyes closed in the meantime... Place the remaining rinds (the thick skins without the zest) in a large pan.



4. Once you're done with that, pour water into the pan, enough to cover the quarters of the rinds, and bring to the boil. Then lower the heat, and let simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Empty the water from the pan, and let cold water run onto the rinds, which by now should be rather soft and flexible. When they're OK to touch, start tri-folding the quarters and securing each of them with a toothpick.



6. Pour cold water again, and bring to the boil, then lowering the heat and simmering for 10 minutes. Again empty the water. Repeat the simmering for a third time.

7. Remove the pieces and empty the remaining water from the pan. You will now make the syrup for the sweet. Use 750ml of water and approx. 1 kg of sugar per kilo of your fruit. Once the mixture is starting to boil, place the folded pieces of the fruit inside, and lower the heat. Simmer until the syrup starts to thicken, not forgetting to pour a few drops of lemon juice, so that the sugar does not crystallise.



8. Remove the toothpicks, and put the sweet into jars before it gets completely cold. Do not cover yet: Let them get at room temperature, cover with a cloth for about 12 hours or more and then cover with the lids.



Good luck, and enjoy!