I really love Jujube trees. Once upon a time it was a very common tree in Greece and there is actually a whole area of Athens close to the water in the south of the city called "Tzitzifies" the place with the jujube trees that is. 

It is a tree that came to Europe from China many many many years ago... and if you ask me it must have arrived during the silk road time with the fruits of the tree dried and used as a food for the travelers. Someone must have kept some seeds, sowed them and the jujube tree became a common sight in this country as well as the country of it's origin... Imagine that... 

I find this tree very beautiful and ornamental and just a great addition to a mediterranean garden. The trunk is almost like a sculpture, the leaves are pendulous and bright green glistening in the sun, the flowers may be tiny but they smell divine and the fruit is tasty and they look good against the green leaves.

All this time I am talking about Ziziphus jujuba. There is another tree though that is mistaken for a jujube tree. Ornamental as well, called Elaeagnus angustifolia that bears similar fruit with the jujube tree but this is where the resemblance stops. This tree has leaves that look like an olive tree, green on top and grey on the bottom and completely different growing habits.

Last time I saw a Jujube tree was many years ago on the island of Samos in Greece. I fell in love with it all over again! And since it was already autumn it bore fruits that they were soooo delicious! I remember picking some fruit and tasting them and just being blown away.. 

Downtown Athens these days has become quite multicultural as people from all over the world have taken up residence there. There is a small China town and on one of the streets there is an open market daily where you can find many of the wonderful veggies that you cannot find anywhere else in town. 

One day last autumn I found a guy selling jujubes!! So of course I bought a kilo. 

The tree in China is conciderded to be quite valuable as it its leaves, fruit, wood etc can be turned into medicine and so the fruit is prized a lot. They turn them into pickles, preserves, etc.. 

I had some raw just as I like them and I also dried some. But there were about 500 g left so I thought I could turn them into liqueur. And I did. It is a very simple recipe. Let's see what we will need.