Ziziphus jujuba, Jujube, is a deciduous fruit tree that grows 15 to 50 feet tall with a width of 50-85% of its height, depending on cultivar. The branches have a slight zigzag shape with two spines at the base of each leaf. These trees usually become less thorny with age. The leaves are green, long and narrowly lance-shaped to oval, with finely serrated margins, and turn yellow in the fall. Some cultivars have naturally curly or cupped leaves. The flowers are very small, clustered, with five relatively large sepals, five tiny greenish-yellow petals, and are fragrant. They bloom spring into summer, in the same year their buds form. Jujube fruit has thin skin, white edible flesh, and varies in size from a cherry to a large plum. If pollinated, the fruit has a single stone containing two seeds. These trees may be productive more than 100 years.
Hundreds of jujube cultivars have been developed, and are grouped by geographic region. Indian jujube was formerly considered a separate species, Ziziphus mauritiana. Its fruits do not develop a date-like flavor when fully ripe, and most have their best apple-like flavor before they reach full color, which may be yellow, red, red-brown or chocolate brown.
Chinese jujube cultivars are divided into those grown for fresh-eating, those grown for drying, and those that are suitable for both. These fruit acquire red-brown spots after changing from green to light-green, and become entirely red-brown when they are at the peak of their flavor. Wrinkles develop after the fruit become fully colored, and on some cultivars, just before the fully red-brown stage. For fresh eating cultivars, the taste is crisp and sweet-tart, like an apple, between the yellow-green and red stages. When fully red or red-brown, the fruit can change in taste to a cross between an apple and a date. At this point the drying cultivars have reached the peak of their flavor.
