Why Do Grey Jujubes Have a Grey Coating? Five Tricks to Easily Tell Real from Fake
Grey jujube, also known as Xinzheng grey jujube, gets its name because its surface is grey all over and looks as if it is covered with a layer of frost. It is sweeter than red jujube and has a small pit and plenty of flesh, so it is very popular. Sowhy do grey jujubes have a grey coating?How can you tell real from fake?
1. Introduction to grey jujube:
1. What kind of jujube is grey jujube?
Grey jujube is a kind of red jujube. It is not artificially made; it gets its name because it is exposed all year round to wind-blown sand, so when the fruit ripens its surface carries a layer of grey sand.
2. What does grey jujube look like?
The grey jujube fruit is long obovate, slightly narrow at the body and a little lopsided. The average fruit weight is 12.3 grams, and the largest fruit weighs 13.3 grams. The shoulder of the fruit is round and slanted, rather narrow and slightly raised. The stalk cavity is small and moderately deep. The top of the fruit is broadly round, with a slightly sunken apex. The fruit surface is fairly smooth. The skin is orange-red; before the white-ripe stage it turns from green to grey, and once it enters the white-ripe stage it turns from grey to white. This grey is similar to the grey on dried persimmons; it is mostly sugar and can be eaten without worry.
3. Where are grey jujubes distributed?
The main producing areas of grey jujube are Ruoqiang County in the Bayingolin Prefecture and Aral City in the Aksu Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. In recent years the grey jujube output of Aral City has been climbing year by year.
2. Why do grey jujubes have a grey coating?
Grey jujube got its name because before the Ruoqiang jujube ripens and turns red, it is grey all over, as if covered with a layer of frost, and so it was named “grey jujube”. When it enters the white-ripe stage it turns from grey to white. This grey is similar to the grey on dried persimmons; it is mostly sugar and can be eaten without worry.
3. Can the grey coating on grey jujubes be eaten?
Grey jujubes carry some grey dust on them; some of it looks white and some of it even looks a little green, which is normal. That region is close to the desert and it rarely rains. The dust generally rinses off with a little water and will not stay stuck. It is jujubes with no dust at all that you need to be careful about when eating; wash them thoroughly, because they may well have been treated.
4. How can you tell real grey jujubes from fake ones?
1. Look at the appearance: authentic Ruoqiang grey jujubes, even when very dry, still have a glossy surface; the wrinkles on the skin are not deep, most of the fruit is oval and a few are long strips, the fruit is even from end to end, and there is no big-end, small-end effect. Soak Ruoqiang grey jujubes in water or boil them in soup, and even when the fruit has absorbed water and become very, very plump, the flesh basically will not burst through the skin, because the skin is quite tough. If the jujubes you buy do not meet these requirements in appearance, then they are probably some other variety.
2. Taste the texture: authentic Ruoqiang grey jujubes are very sweet and very soft when bitten into. Because the fruit is high in sugar and in various minerals and trace elements, a bite gives a slightly sticky feeling (most obvious in semi-dry jujubes, less obvious in fully dry ones), and the eating quality is very good; there is only sweetness, with no sour taste. The skin of Ruoqiang grey jujubes is fairly tough, but while eating it does not dominate the taste buds; what you notice clearly is the flesh, not the skin.
3. Look at the pit: this is the most important point for telling authentic Ruoqiang grey jujubes apart. The pits of fruit from 100% authentic, locally grown Ruoqiang jujube trees are slender or spindle-shaped. Some grey jujubes come from branches cut from Ruoqiang trees and grafted elsewhere; the grafted trees differ in variety, so the quality of the grey jujubes they produce differs accordingly, each with its own variation.
4. Look at the price: in the Ruoqiang production area the farm-gate purchase price paid to growers is generally around 10 to 18 yuan (unselected goods). Adding the costs of grading, sorting and packaging, the market price per kilogram should not be below 25 yuan. Any “Ruoqiang grey jujube” priced below that is 100% fake.
5. Look at the packaging: the Ruoqiang County government specifically applied for geographical indication certification. Whether online or offline, anything promoted under the name “Ruoqiang red jujube” must have written approval from the county jujube association; otherwise it is fake.
In summary, the grey coating on grey jujubes can generally be rinsed off with water and then they are ready to eat. But since there are fake grey jujubes on the market, when buying you should try to check the appearance and sample the texture, so as to make sure you are buying real grey jujubes.