What is the typical shelf life of winter jujube?
Winter jujube is a nutritious fruit, resembling a small apple, with plenty of juice and a rich sweetness, and it is an essential food in autumn and winter. So how long is the shelf life of winter jujube?
1. The shelf life of winter jujube
The shelf life of winter jujube is relatively short; at room temperature it can only be kept for 2-3 days, and in the refrigerator it can be kept for about 1 week. It is best to finish eating winter jujube early and not store it too long, so as not to affect the taste.
2. The main value of winter jujube
Winter jujube is delicious eaten fresh, with crisp skin and tender, delicate flesh, and excellent quality; it is so far a high-grade fresh-eating variety among deciduous fruit trees in the north; after ripening, it can split open when it falls to the ground; it is juicy with no residue, sweet and fragrant; the flesh is thick and the pit is small, with a high edible rate. Winter jujube is extremely rich in nutrients. It contains 19 amino acids essential to the human body, including aspartic acid, threonine and serine, and is especially rich in vitamin C, earning it the reputation of a “living vitamin pill”. In addition, the winter jujube fruit also contains relatively large amounts of vitamin A, vitamin E, potassium, sodium, iron, copper and various other trace elements, and has the function of keeping capillaries unobstructed and preventing increased fragility of blood vessel walls; it is effective for hypertension and atherosclerosis, and has an anti-cancer effect. Its nutritional value ranks first among a hundred fruits, and it is known as the “king of a hundred fruits”.
3. How to choose winter jujube?
1. Look at the color: naturally ripened winter jujube gradually changes from green to red, so it is mostly green with red showing through, and there is no very obvious boundary between the green and red parts; whereas winter jujube soaked in saccharin is mostly dark red or dark yellow, with an obvious boundary from the green part.
2. Feel the texture: naturally ripened winter jujube has smooth, hard skin, and the peel and flesh fit tightly together; whereas saccharin-soaked jujube has sticky skin, may even have wrinkles, loose peel, and the stem end is rather soft.
3. Taste the flavor: naturally ripened winter jujube is crisp and refreshing, the flesh part is the sweetest, the peel is basically tasteless, and it has a natural fresh fragrance; because saccharin-soaked jujube has been soaked, the peel is sweeter than the flesh, with a slightly bitter aftertaste, and even the water used to wash it has a sweet taste.
Although winter jujube is very tasty, eating too many at one time can harm the stomach and intestines and cause gastrointestinal discomfort, so it should not be eaten in large amounts.