North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Richard Moyer <ramoyer@gmail.com>]

Michele and Betsy,
Check out this list archives for extensive discussions on jujube.
Betsy, there are growers in NC who have some that excel in your area.
 Check with AJ Bullard in Mt. Olive for leads.  According to Chinese
contacts, most cultivars in this country are for processing not fresh
eating.  There is germplasm for fresh eating, but it's tough to find.
I've been told in Vietnam and India, they are eaten fresh and crunchy,
whereas in China, Korea and Japan, they are more often eaten dried.
There were merchants we saw in Seoul who made their living selling
dried jujubes, and they are used in multiple Korean dishes.  The hint
of sweetness works well in savory chicken dishes.

Another NAFEXer Richard Ashton, based near Houston, raises jujubes
commercially and has written a book about their culture.  He has
commented extensively on the fruit on this list.

Michele, there are northern adapted cultivars of jujubes that will
work in your area, but they, to my knowledge, are not generally
available.  I have heard on ones that fruit in Ohio and N. Kentucky.
Anyone else remember who near Michele has fruited them?  There is a
TVA planting near Knoxville that has borne for decades, and Clifford
England in central KY has a collection and sells trees.  Clifford
would likely have material that would work in SW Ohio.

We ripen jujubes here in NE TN, SW VA, on years with late frosts and
in an area where record July highs are the low 90s.  So Michele should
have enough heat and a long enough season.  Trick is finding the
cultivar that fruits.  Li and Lang are duds in the upper south, giving
a few fruit a year (less than a dozen).  I have a selection from the
TVA planting that has limbs breaking this year with all the fruit,
thousands of them per tree.  The Lang tree nearby has a grand total of
eight  as of last Saturday.  So cultivars make a HUGE difference in
this one.

Richard Moyer
Selling jujubes at market tomorrow, a few loyal customers for them.
Also passion fruit, quince, and Asian pears.

Michele wrote:
Betsy,
I have tried various jujubes at farmers' markets, CRFG tastings, etc.
Unfortunately I don't remember which cultivars I ate, but the good ones
tasted like apples when the moisture content was high.
I would grow them if they would fruit in my location.
Michele
SW Ohio zone 6a

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 10:34 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] short story about Texas growers of jujube now jujube
varieties

I must have an unappetizing variety or else I am harvesting them at the
wrong time.

I have a 'So' jujube that is bearing for the first time.  I tried
harvesting when just part of the fruit is brown, I found them crisp but
not very sweet nor interesting in flavor.  I also tried them fully
brown, a bit sweeter, but still not very interesting. I tried drying
them at both stages. I got a hint of the famed date-like flavor, but the
fruit had an unpleasant bitter note.

So, do I have the wrong variety or do I just not care for jujubes?

Betsy Hilborn
7a NC