The original jujube - the real jujube - is a fruit, not a candy.
The fruit is hardly known in America, but the Chinese have been
growing and eating jujubes for more than 4,000 years.
Jujube plants traveled beyond Asia centuries ago, to Syria, then
to ancient Rome, and then, in 1837, to North Carolina. The plants
aroused some interest as ornamentals, so in 1854 the U.S. Patent
Office distributed jujube trees throughout the Middle Atlantic and
Southern states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture started
promoting the fruit itself after receiving propagating wood of
better-tasting varieties that plant explorer Frank Meyer sent over
from China in 1908.
Because of the jujube tree's handsome appearance and its
adaptability to many soils, jujubes today are not uncommon dooryard
trees in America's southern tier.
But the fruit itself never did catch on. Say "jujube" and most
Americans think of the cinema candy.
Outside of China, jujube fruits have sometimes been called
"Chinese dates." Although botanically unrelated, jujube and date
fruits do resemble each other in appearance, texture, and flavor.
The just-ripe fruit is the color of mahogany and is as shiny and
smooth as if buffed with a cloth. At this stage, the flesh is crisp
and sweet, reminiscent of an apple. Left to ripen further, the
fruit begins to wrinkle, and the flesh changes from light green to
beige and becomes spongy - this is when the fruit becomes
datelike.
