Xinjiang jujube

6 min read

As the saying goes，”It is fine to go without meat for three days，but not one day without a big ju jube.Three dates a day make a man younger.”Mainly depending on its long history，rich nutrition and strong vitality，the big ju jube being rich in nutrition has become an indispensable content of Chinese diet custom，and you can find it in soups，dishes and also in staple foods.The big jujube，also called Chinese date，has been listed as one of the”five fruits”（peach，plum，greengage，apricot，jujube）since ancient times.The most prominent characteristic of the jujube is its high content of vitamins and the jujube has areputation of”natural vitamin pill”.Clinical studies have shown that patients consecutively eating big jujubes recover three times faster than those who simply take vitamin drugs.

The jujube，known as the”gavelock crop”，has strong adaptability and vitality，and has become an important cash crop of many places with its characteristics of tolerance to drought and water-logging.

4，000 years ago，there was a beautiful story in ancient Ruoqiang of Xinjiang：If you wanted your lover to be together with you forever，as long as you found the Ruoqiang red-dates and had her eaten these dates，she would be dead set on loving you and never part with you.The”Ruoqiang red-date”has thus become a unique brand in China.Ruoqiang red-dates are also called”hang dry jujubes”and they get the name as they are naturally air dried on the trees.Long time exposure to wind and sun gives Ruoqiang red-dates characteristics of thin skin，thick flesh，close texture，bright color，high sugar content，soft taste and pure sweetness.If you eat one，the sweetness will go into your heart with long endless aftertaste.The Ruoqiang red-date is also known as”Chinese first jujube”which mainly benefits from its specific geographical environment.Ruoqiang County is located in the middle of Taklimakan desert of southern Xin jiang and Altun Mountain of Kunlun Mountains，adjoining Gansu Province and Qinghai Province in the east，and Tibet in the south.Ruoqiang County is irrigated by glacier melted water permanently and the maximum temperature difference there between day and night is 28℃ with abundant light and heat and long frost-free time, which make Ruoqiang red-dates contain rich nutrients likemultiple amino acids, protein, fat, carbohydrate, organic acid, vitamin A, vitamin C and trace amounts of calcium. And long-term consumption of Ruoqiang red-dates can have better effect than eating a panacea.

Talking about this, people will think of Kumul-a place of great military importance and the portal of Xinjiang. People who have been to Xinjiang will know Kumul as well as “Kumul jujubes”. According to a legend, when King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty(1046 B.C. to 771 B.C.) was cruising in western regions, he passed by Wupu(now Wupu Township of Kumul City). In the crowd of onlookers,a tall and slim girl with deep eyes, high nose bridge and blond hair seemed very attractive. King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty looked at the girl and then had a look at the people around. He found that local people looked so different from people of the central China and just asked the girl,”Are you native here?”The girl said with a smile,”Yes, Your Majesty. We have been living here for many years.”King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty nodded his head and then asked again,”Along the way, Ifeel you look like people in Congling and Loulan areas. Do you have a common ancestor?”The girl said with a surprise,”Just as Your Ma jesty said, we have the same ancestor. Our branch came to the Kumul basin and settled in this place.”The girl put the stone plate in her hands in front of King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty, as she was saying,”Please have a taste of our jujubes, Your Majesty.”King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty looked down and exclaimed,”Ah, so big jujubes!I have never seen so big jujubes though I have traveled across Huaxia(an ancient name of China).”Then he carefully picked up one and put it into his mouth chewing up slowly. The girl and people saw that King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty was so intoxicated that he closed his eyes. Long time passed, and King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty slowly opened the eyes and gasped in admiration,”Fantastic! Fantastic! What kind of jujube is it?”The girl said in a hurry,”This is our specialty here. It was wild jujube at first and then weplanted it by ourselves.”King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty sighed,”I can’t believe the western desert has such good jujubes. See, dry climate and burning sun here should make such incredible things and it is also an act of god.”Kumul ju jubes then became world famous. Later, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin tasted the Kumul ju jubes and with their being sealed as tribute ju jube, the Kumul ju jubes had become imperial tributes since then.

Each place has its own way of supporting its own inhabitants and each place has its own way of gestating its own excellent fruits as well. Among Kumul jujubes, the Wupu jujube is the most precious. Wupu Township is located in the edge of Turpan-Kumul basin with a dry climate. Its daytime temperature can reach more than 40 ℃in summer witha tempe-rature difference of more than 20℃ between day and night, and its frost-free period can be more than 220 days a year. Special climate and environment make Wupu jujubes characteristics of thin skin, thick flesh, small nuclear, sweet taste and high nutritional value. Especially, they are on top grade in Chinese jujubes because they contain 8 kinds of amino acids which cannot be synthesized by a human body. In April,1997, Seypidin Ezizi, the former vice chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee(CPPCC), once wrote an inscription that “Kumul ju jubes are out of the world.”In my opinion, people on business, visiting relatives or just on a trip are sure to “eat it first”.

There is another jujube in Xinjiang, along with the Ruoqiang red-date and Kumul jujube called as “three treasures in jujubes”. That is Hotan jujube. Hotan, which is locatedat the southernmost point of Xinjiang and in north latitude 38.6° to 40.1°, is a worldwide recognized”excellent fruit-growing area”. The area has the most suitable pollution-free alkaline desertification soil for ju jube growing and up to 15 hours’ sunlight provides more enough photosynthesis conditions for Hotan jujubes. Abundant light, heat and glacier snow water full of mineral elements from Kunlun Mountains make Hotan jujubes have abundant mineral elements. With irrigation of Mt. Tianshan snow water, cultivation of natural soil and no usage of pesticide or chemical fertilizer, the Hotan jade ju jube becomes the real pollution-free and nuisance-free”natural green food”.

Compared with other red jujubes, the Hotan jujube is full of nutriments with bigger shapes, plumper particles, thicker flesh, thinner skin, smaller nuclear and sweeter taste.

Each Hotan jade ju jube is a crystallization of natural essence and is the best of the best in jujubes. What makes the Hotan jade ju jube unique is its small stone and it is also commonly known as stone-free jujube in folk Xin jiang. In fact, it is not stone-free.

Instead, the stone is so small that you cannot feel its existence. You can just feel the jujube is as pure and beautiful as a jade.

From August to October, all the jujubes are competing for thunders. Seen from far away, the fruits are red and thick, like residual light of the setting sun; Seen closely, thejujubes are round and smooth, like beauties just out of the bath. At this time, you might as well have a walk through the jujube garden with the young and the old to pick fresh fruits and share with each other. Sitting around a simple green stone table with your family, pick up a fresh red jujube and your taste buds thoroughly release when your vision and taste are totally attracted by the appearance of the jujube. Tap with the tip of your tongue and you will hear a crunch with the jujube being outside red and inside green and sweet and delicious. The taste is just like the personality of the jujube itself, which is tolerant to water-logging and drought, not fussy, not gentle, warmly crisp, thoroughly cool andrefreshing. If you want to buy Xin jiang jujubes, you must remember that the ones becoming yellow, grey or white are probably not real Xinjiang jujubes. If they are sour or almost have no tastes, they are certainly not Xinjiang jujubes either. In Xin jiang, Ruoqiang red-dates are small but most substantial. Kumul jujubes have good effects of enriching the blood, and Hotan jade jujubes are big with thick flesh.