Taiwan jujube number one in the world, you must know ten things about jujube!

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With the advent of the jujube season, known as Taiwan's green apples, honey jujube is actually the low-key light of Taiwan. looking around the world, it is difficult to match Taiwan's jujube in taste and taste, and domestic jujube varieties and planting techniques are number one in the world. The "upstream and downstream" interviewer, Qiu Chu-ying, a former researcher named "jujube princess" and the current director of the Banana Research Institute, and Guo Zhanhong, an assistant researcher at the Fengshan Branch of the Agricultural Experimental Institute, asked experts to tell you the strength of Taiwan jujube.

Delicious Taiwan jujube ─ cherished variety (Photography / Alittle)

Q1: honey jujube, golden jujube and red jujube all have dates in their names. They are not relatives, are they? 


Jujube and red jujube are both jujube, but belong to different species, there is no way to mate. Golden jujube is another name for kumquat, and kumquat is a genus of citrus, so the relationship is far away.

Honey jujube, the real name Indian jujube, was first introduced from India and was recorded in 1925, but the varieties at that time had a thick pericarp and astringent taste, and each weighed less than 10 grams. After that, domestic agricultural research units continued to improve, reaching more than 100 grams each in the 1960s, and now some dates can even reach more than 300 grams.

Q2: do you have dates in other countries? What's the difference between it and Taiwan jujube?

China, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries and even Central Asian countries all have dates, but the goal orientation of foreign dates is different from that of Taiwan dates. Foreign jujube is small, about 4 to 40 grams, mostly used for processing and wine-making, with great differences in shape, some as small as pearls and some in the shape of the second quarter moon.

The breeding goal of Taiwan jujube is large fruit, sweet and juicy fruit, crisp taste and round shape. Guo Zhanhong added that different countries eat different ways. For example, Thais eat dates with sauce, but only Taiwanese dates are eaten fresh.

A small foreign Indian jujube (Photo courtesy of Guo Zhanhong)

Compared with Indian jujube, Taiwan's honey jujube has thin, juicy and delicious skins (photo / upstream and downstream file photo)

Q3: what is the strength of Taiwan jujube?

The land in Taiwan is narrow and densely populated, and the land cost is relatively high, so the planting intensity of jujube is high. Agricultural experimental units have bred 19 kinds of jujube with different characteristics, and the growth time can be staggered to facilitate the adjustment of production and market. and supplemented by fertilizer management and fruit thinning and other cultivation techniques to improve quality. The two researchers agreed that the cultivation technology and quality of Taiwan jujube is definitely the first in the world.

The average domestic jujube weighs about 120g, and the gift jujube weighs about 150g. Taiwan's jujube planting area is about 1900 hectares, with an annual output of more than 33,000 metric tons, and exports have increased year after year. From January to November 2020, 742 metric tons have been exported, of which 607 metric tons are sold to China. After deducting the export volume, Taiwan eats more than 260 million honey dates a year, with an average of 10 per person a year.

The two researchers said that the jujube production season is in winter, there is less fruit in winter, and honey jujube has a great advantage, while the domestic jujube market is not yet saturated, "it is not enough to eat!"

Q4: all the jujube peels bought by the fruit store are green, are they all the same?

No, the peel of all varieties of jujube is green, but it will ripen when picked. The higher the maturity, the color of the pericarp will turn yellow. At present, there are Sanmu, Mid-leaf and Kaohsiung No. 11 "Zhenmi" jujube varieties on the domestic market, and recently a new variety, "Xueli", has just been put on the market.

Honey grows for a long time, and the production period will be after the Spring Festival, but because of its juicy, thin skin and tender flesh, honey fans who love it are still willing to wait. And the breeding of this variety also scattered the production period of jujube, solving the production and marketing pressure of jujube before the festival in the past year.

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 Q5: what kind of jujube is "milk jujube"?

Milk jujube is a trade name, not a variety, but a way of cultivation. In the past, some farmers fermented expired milk into fertilizer and used it to grow jujube, which is called milk jujube.

Not only milk, but also heard farmers take expired milk powder and fish bones to make a small amount of compost to replenish the nutrition of jujube.

Many milk jujubes are the following traditional jujube varieties, the top row left and right are Ruyi (folk variety), Tainong 4 (Azure Dragon) lower row left 1, left 2 are: Tainong 9 (Xinmi Wang), left 3 is traditional honey jujube, left 4 is provided by Meilong (folk variety) photo / Guo Zhanhong)

Q 

 6: the bigger the jujube, the more delicious it is? Or the greener the better?

Whether the size is delicious depends on the variety. The key to choosing jujube in a fruit store depends on the glossiness of the peel. It is recommended to choose the brighter it looks. As for color, it depends on personal dietary needs, usually the skin is green and crisp, and the skin is yellow and sweet, depending on whether you want to eat crispy or sweet.

A few years ago, there would be "flowers and fruits" in some parts of jujube, some with a whole piece and some with a little bit like sesame seeds, which would taste thicker because of powdery mildew. If you generally see the jujube bruised by transportation, the appearance will not affect the inside.

Jujube flowers and fruits with spots on the surface (photo courtesy of / Guo Zhanhong)

Q7: do dates have to be iced when they are bought home? What will happen if there is no ice?

No, dates must be refrigerated in the refrigerator when they are bought home. After a few days at room temperature, there will be a bad smell due to fermentation. Be sure to hold Pita Bread Plain in the refrigerator, otherwise the jujube will become smaller because of the slow loss of water.

Q8: honey dates are known as "Taiwan green apples". Are they really better than green apples?

Jujube sweetness and vitamin C are as sweet as green apples, especially vitamin C, which has 40 to 60 milligrams per 100 grams, 10 ─ 20 times more than apples! Some varieties even have a vitamin C content close to that of guava.

Jujube is an annual fruit, the advent of jujube season also appears that the jujube is particularly fresh and special, so that people can not go back to the fine taste.

Q9: in Jin Yong's novel "Divine carving chivalrous Men", is Qiu Qianzhi's jujube core nail a jujube core?

I don't think so. Compared with the jujube core, the jujube core is sharper and more suitable as a weapon. There are seeds in jujube kernels. In the past, some farmers would dry and store them as seeds after eating, but now because of the optimization of varieties, the seeds of jujube seeds do not germinate high, so they still have to buy seedlings.

Q10.: jujube seed will not sprout, so how to carry on the family line?

"you can try to plant the finished jujube seed, but you may not grow a jujube tree for a lifetime." Kuo Chin-hung explains that Taiwan jujube is so special because of its breeding. Honey jujube must be pollinated by male and female flowers to bear fruit, and usually the fruit is seedless. Farmers want to plant jujube trees, usually by grafting.

There are thorns on jujube trees, and the powerful thing is that "even if they are different varieties, they can be grafted in the same year." compared with litchi and papaya, it takes more than three years to bear fruit. If jujube is grafted in April this year, it can bear fruit in November.

As for jujube breeding, Guo Zhanhong says that the probability of jujube seed setting is low, and breeding depends on "tree-sea tactics."one of the 20,000 or 30,000 dates may germinate."

Jujube trees that have been planted for many years rely on frame grafting to plant new varieties, and can bear fruit by grafting in the same year (Photography / Alittle)

The farmer turned over because of her! Qiu Zhuying has been involved in jujube breeding for nearly 30 years.

Surviving the typhoon, jujube farmers accidentally found "cherished" sweet, crisp and juicy flesh.

Here comes a new variety of jujube "Shirley"! Juicy and delicious like small apples, resistant to storage and transportation, it can compete in the international market.