{"id":5894,"date":"2025-03-24T01:45:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T16:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yasai-yakuzen.com\/?p=5894"},"modified":"2026-09-07T18:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T09:14:11","slug":"natsume","status":"publish","type":"vegtable","link":"https:\/\/yasai-yakuzen.com\/en\/vegtable\/natsume\/","title":{"rendered":"The benefits of jujube"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jujube is a sweet, warm fruit held to help the Spleen and Stomach work and to nourish the blood. It is often used where there is unease of the mind, poor sleep or a dull complexion. Taken in simmered dishes, soups or as jujube tea, you get its sweetness and its goodness in full. Dried, it keeps well, which makes it an excellent everyday yakuzen ingredient.<\/p>\n

\"Jujube\"<\/figure>\n

The types of jujube and how to choose them<\/h2>\n

If you want to enjoy what jujube does, it helps to know what it is, its types and how to choose it. Dried it turns sticky and sweet, a fruit familiar from yakuzen soups and teas.<\/p>\n

A yakuzen standard, also called taiso<\/h3>\n

Jujube is the fruit of a tree in the buckthorn family, known in kampo as taiso and used in yakuzen for centuries. Fresh jujube ripens in autumn, but it barely reaches the shops in Japan, and what is sold is mostly dried. Dried jujube comes largely from China, Ningxia among other places, and from Korea, and is available all year. Fresh jujube has the crisp bite of a green apple, but dried it turns sticky and sweet like a prune, and keeps far longer. On a Japanese table it is this dried jujube that is normally used.<\/p>\n

Red jujube, black jujube and the other types<\/h3>\n

Jujube comes in several types, differing in flavour according to how it is processed.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
kinds<\/th>\nWhat stands out<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Red jujube (dried)<\/td>\nThe standard. Red-brown, with a sticky natural sweetness<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Black jujube<\/td>\nSteamed and then dried. Deeper and richer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Slices and chips<\/td>\nThinly sliced, or dried into chips. Easy for tea and for cooking<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

Red jujube to eat as it is or to cook with, black jujube for a richer flavour, slices for tea and for quick use: you can choose by what you are doing.<\/p>\n

How to choose them and how to handle the stone<\/h3>\n

When picking out dried jujube, these are the things to look for if you want good quality.<\/p>\n