Ziziphus zizyphus (from Greek ζίζυφον, zizyfon[1]), commonly called jujube, red date, or chinese date, is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae, used primarily for its fruits. Common names in Arabic are nabq, dum, tsal, sadr, zufzuuf (in Morocco) and sidr, the last of which also means Ziziphus lotus.[2] In Persian it is called anab or annab , a name also used in Lebanon.

Food features:The fruit is an edible oval drupe 1.5–3-cm deep; when immature it is smooth-green, with the consistency and taste of an apple, maturing brown to purplish-black and eventually wrinkled, looking like a small date. There is a single hard stone similar to an olive stone.

Place of origin:Its precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation, but is thought to be in southern Asia, between Lebanon, Pakistan, northern India, the Korean peninsula, and southern and central China, and also southeastern Europe though more likely introduced there.

Nutrition:

Dietotherapy function:The fruits are used in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine, where they are believed to alleviate stress.Ziziphin, a compound in the leaves of the jujube, suppresses the ability to perceive sweet taste in humans.The fruit, being mucilaginous, is also very soothing to the throat and decoctions of jujube have often been used in pharmacy to treat sore throats.