I had a Date – Chinese, Fresh and Sweet

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Yeah yeah. I’m talking about the Chinese date or ziziphus jujube. Ate Vi brought us some and I couldn’t stop munching. They’re sweet & so addicting. Fresh dates are crisp like apples.

The fresh fruit is relatively new to me as I am more familiar w/ the dried ones but actually it has been in cultivation in China for about 4,000 years with over 400 cultivars! Inferior seedlings have traveled beyond Asia centuries ago and were brought into Europe at the beginning of the Christian era but the improved selections were introduced to the US only by 1908.


Probably the plant was introduced to Europe from China by means of the Silk Road during the early years of the Christian era.

If you wanna see the nutrition facts, go here. If you are interested in traditional Chinese herbal medicine, click here.

When the fruit is scarcest its taste is sweetest. – Irish Sayings

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Iska
I am not a professional cook. My only claim to having a culinary background is a short stint as my dad’s teen ‘sous chef’ in his carinderia ages ago. Dad ran small eateries since I was a young kid - serving standard ‘turo-turo’ food ranging from the likes of menudo, adobo, pritong isda, dinuguan, binagoongan, bopis, munggo, pinakbet and giniling to merienda fares like goto, ginataan, pancit bihon, halu-halo and saging con yelo.

My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.

Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.

5 thoughts on “I had a Date – Chinese, Fresh and Sweet

  1. at first i thought they are siniguelas. magkamukha talaga but the chinese dates are sweeter. the taste & texture are very much similar to that of chinese fuji apples. pati yung skin nya crisp to the bite.

  2. hi iska been to your site lots of times and i love jujube, the vietnamese store sells it here in l.a. fresh i didn’t know it was chinese dates i just tried it and i fell in love with it at first bite.

  3. Dear all my comment readers,
    I would like to tell you that i am looking for a party that they could supply
    chines date ( small fruit/ like stone apple) from china, to the Maldives
    we are very interested to import this fruit to the Maldives.
    thank you,
    Ahmed Rasheed

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