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I had a taste testing of jujubes yesterday (and apples, E plums and watermelons, too.). I only had Honey Jar, Sugar Cane and Shanxi Li that are fully ripe. I skipped Massandra and So since they are just turning brown.
It was a 4 people panel, hubby, his friend, my brother-in-law and I.
All but I said HJ was the best tasting. It was crunchy and the sweetest to them. I thought it had a little tangy taste to it. I like SC more, sweeter with no tang but they disagreed. My taste buds are definitely different!!!
Shanxi Li, Sugar Cane and Honey Jar
None of us cared for Shanxi Li. I ate a dozen more last night. They were chalky, even bitter in some. This is the third year I have eaten it. It has quite a few negatives.
- does not taste that good
- fruit drops at a higher rate that the other two varieties
- fruit size varies greatly. (planted it because of a large fruit size but there are many smaller fruit this year).
I will turn it into a Franken tree over the next few years.
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Just want to show size differences of Shanxi Li from the same tree. The big ones are as big as an egg. The small ones are as small as Honey Jar.
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They look good!!
How do you get yours to ripen all at the same time?
Katy
I think your panel of judges are right. You are definitely have a different taste buds. I am with the judges with the HJ.
Tony
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They don’t ripen at the same time. I only picked ones that are brown or mostly brown. A few have dropped. Either squirrels or chipmunks had gotten to them. I hate those pests.
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Tony,
I tend to think that I have more refined taste buds than those men 
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So I’ve had my eye out for jujubes lately. Never tasted them until today. I decided to go check out an Asian store few miles away from here to see if they have any. Sure enough they did. A giant pile of jujubes but most of it was in bad shape I had trouble picking out few good ones to buy. Most were rotten or dried up. Came home with these and tasted a few. I’m not crazy about the texture, they felt like packing peanuts in my mouth. 1 out of 5 I ate had a nice sweetness to it. Rest were bland and had not much taste. They were probably not the same variety. I would’ve preferred sour, tart any taste really, not just bland spongy texture. I’m not impressed but I think I might like them better if I grew my own. I’m basing that conclusion on that one sweet juju which was still dry and spongy.
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They don’t keep well. Usually not too good from stores. Best right off the tree.
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Snow and frost came early this year. This will be the last jujube harvested. Too bad late season fruits weren’t as tasty as late August harvested.
Tony
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Today I had my second Jujube experience thanks to Mamuang who was kind enough to send me some of her Jujubes. They were quite different from the ones I had few posts above. Definitely no packing peanuts. There was visible juiciness after taking a bite. I’m definitely getting a tree.
This kind of changes my space allocation for 2019. I have what is considered a lot of space for suburban areas but no or very limited space with more than 6 hours of sun. Reading about jujubes it looks like they don’t ask for much but they do require sun more than any other fruit tree. What’s the least amount of sun they’ll
Tolerate and still produce decent crop? I have an area that is sunny in the summer but come September, October because of the sun angle it is shady in the afternoon.Since jujubes ripen in September October will this reduce the sweetness of fruit?
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I just try to convince forum members here to grow jujubes one member at a time to follow in @jujube mulberry’s foot steps. Glad you like it. Those two are what I like but not all are that good. I don’t care for my Shanxi Li. I am on the fence re. So. No decision on Massandra yet.
If you can put Sugar Cane and Honey Jar side by side, you increase your chance of cross pollination and fruit set. I can’t answer the sun issue. I will have the same issue with Massandra and So next year since they will get only 6-7 hours of sunlight.
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I have 1 shanxi li and 1 tiger tooth. Shanxi li fruited last year (the same year when planted) and this one not. Probably because i moved it to a better position and it has been stressed. Tiger tooth fruited now and had a few fruits. And its not so much big as i had expected. I expected a little bigger, longer fruits, as the name says to look like a tooth 
Maybe I expected too much. Here it is, but tell me is that this species or not?
I tried one fruit while it was green yet, and these others I will wait for it to dry because they are supposedly the best then.
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Hi Martin,
Glad you’ve found us. Someone like @jujubemulberry and @castanea probably could tell you if your jujubes are the right varieties.
My Shanxi Li has various sizes from very big and quite small. If you can find Honey Jar or Sugar Cane, you should plant one or both. After 3 years of eating all 3, HJ and SC taste better than Shanxi Li, growing where I am.
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oooh, I’m trying, but it’s not that easy. I envy you on the amount of varietes and availability. For me it is easiest through seed, though in this field I have not been much successful 
, or to find scions and try grafting. Although I do not have a rootstock for that. Only that on these two existing graft some.
I obtained these 2 seedlings from Bulgaria, because it is the closest and most affordable to me. Those in your country are expensive for me, not to talk about transportation. Only if there were small seedlings of the bare root, then perhaps it could. Because my best friend works and lives in the USA and when he comes here he would bring me.
And I followed you a long time ago, but I was not immediately involved in the forum.I have a lot of obligations, now I have come in to put pictures and it’s already midnight. Can read through the mobile but I do not write because it’s hard for me to check the spelling, has been long since learned English 
You just continue like this, I enjoy when I have something to read and see. Regards to all.
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We’re glad to have you reading!! And posting. I hope you can get more trees to grow.
The fruits from a young tree will often be smaller.
Your English is good…very understandable.
Katy
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I read without problems, but when I’m typing I have to check that I do not miss a letter or two. And google translate is very helpful 
It’s only important that we understand each others.
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If your government does not mind your friend bringing agricultural products into your country, good for you.
However, your friend should not attempt to bring anything from Serbia to the US. The US government is very strict about this.
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That might be, but I am sure all the jujubes and also Asian persimmons didn’t pass through customs legally. Not that I did it, I didn’t. I have only native persimmon, and jujubes from Kentucky and from Burnt Ridge in Washington State. But it’s obvious some cultivars developed in the last 7 or 8 years in foreign lands aren’t being sold or swapped in USA following a quarantine period. Ditto for European and Asian apples not part of the USDA collection, but scionwood for sale via a Google search or otherwise.
Just saying.
But, I understand it’s a fact all the European Union countries can move or send fruit trees without much fuss. That’s 27 countries, last I counted.
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if not mistaken, univ of alabama, and of course, new mexico state u, have been importing juju cultivars in great numbers. Same with commercial nurseries which even trademarked some of their imports. Would be blatant for them to have brought the cultivars in without going through quarantine.
but you’re right, it does seem easy to smuggle juju budwood/seeds into usa successfully, since bits and pieces of jujus(both seeds and stems) can withstand heat and parching, and can likewise withstand frigid temps in storage at 30,000 feet altitude across the pacific/atlantic.
have two unusual/unnamed jujus bought from chinatown flea market which, i suspect, have been smuggled in. One of them bears fruits that resembles male genitalia. Of course the source may also have grown them from locally-grown seeds.
witch’s broom disease is supposedly endemic to korea and china. It seems to be the only notable lethal non-visible/non-motile pathogen afflicting jujus. A microbe, so not certain how quarantine can identify stems positive for it, and if quarantine actually has the technology to test for it, also doubtful if those that tested negative were true negatives. You can’t possibly disinfect the phloems of stems, and possible that only a few phloems are infected, which may not be detectable when tested.
when importing jujus, it is probably more important that it is free from stowaway pathogens/vectors which may afflict other species. And quite likely that quarantine tests them for those, and not for what actually kills jujus.
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