If you always thought jujubes were just the name of that old-fashioned candy they sell at the movies, you’re not alone. The fruit, which is actually a kind of Chinese date, grows prolifically in New Mexico, but is almost never utilized – mostly because people don’t know what they are or what to do with them.
Fortunately, Chef Jaye knows with them, and has turned us on to this tasty little local treasure. We’ve got roasted jujubes topping a salad of arugula, toasted pecans, quadrello di buffalo and local honey vinaigrette and dinner, and at brunch they’ve replaced peaches, which are quickly going out of season, on our popular steak and gorgonzola salad.
Jujubes have a sweet, fruity flavor and consistency similar to traditional dates. In addition to using them on salads, Jaye says one of her favorite things to do with them is pickle them and use them on cheese plates (a fun locavore way to make your next wine party a little fancier!). You can stuff them with goat cheese or wrap them in bacon and serve them as hors d’oeuvres; you can make a jujube jam, or jujube empanadas or pasteles, or roast and peel them and turn them into a jujube sauce.
We get our jujubes from Chispas Farms in Corrales, but they grow all over the state. Jujubes make a great winter fruit the longer they ripen on the tree, the softer and sweeter they’ll become and the sugars in the fruit become more and more concentrated. And they’re able to withstand fairly cold temperatures – you can even pick jujubes off of a snow-covered jujube tree!