Jujubes

Jujubes, a glossy fruit with a dark-rust to blood-red skin, are an ancient Chinese fruit, which when dried become wrinkled and resemble dates. Called variously Chinese dates, red dates or black dates, depending on their color, and dried Oriental dates, they are typically used in Chinese sweets and appreciated for their felicitous color, sweet taste, and smooth texture. I do not use the hard, dried Chinese jujubes that are commonly sold in cellophane bags in Chinese markets, which are reddish, about the size of an olive, and have the pits left in. Instead, I use soft, pitted red jujubes that are manufactured in the People’s Republic of China by Polar Bear Brand and sold in ¼-pound cellophane-coated boxes, labeled Red Dates Without Stone (無核紅棗 mandarin: woo-huh-hoong-dzao; Cantonese: moe-what-hung-jo). There are many boxed varieties currently on the market, but so far as I know this is the only one without sugar. The jujubes are ready-to-eat and terribly sweet as is, and are lovely when steamed in a cake or bread. There is no substitute for this particular kind.