Today’s preserve recipe: jujubes in grappa.

I have to say, before this summer, I wasn’t familiar with jujubes, or rather I’d seen them but never tried them. Well, I’ve been missing out on something great all these years!
The jujube is a fruit shaped like a large olive, with a brownish/reddish color, yellowish flesh, and a taste reminiscent of a slightly tangy apple when eaten a bit unripe, while as it ripens, it becomes sweeter, resembling a date. Personally, I prefer them not too ripe. Jujubes are available at the end of summer, and this is an excellent way to preserve them and enjoy them in winter by a cozy fireplace.
Great to eat fresh as fruit or to enrich a nice salad, they can also be preserved by drying them.
Preparing them is very simple, but you need a little patience before you can taste them. In fact, before you can eat them and savor all their goodness and sweetness, you’ll have to wait at least three months. I usually prepare them and then give them as Christmas gifts with a nice red ribbon!

Let’s see together, step by step, how to prepare them.

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Difficulty: Very Easy
Rest time: 20 Days
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Cooking methods: No Cooking
Seasonality: Summer, Autumn

Ingredients

1 lb jujubes (ripe but not soft)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 lemon (zest)
1 1/2 orange (zest)
2 cups grappa

Tools

1 Scale
1 Measuring Cup
1 Cutting Board
1 Knife
1 Bowl

Let’s prepare jujubes in grappa together

First of all, wash the jujubes thoroughly, selecting the reddest ones but not too soft, and dry them well with a cloth.

Wash the citrus fruits, preferably organic. Then take the zest of about half a lemon and also about half an orange, making sure not to take the white part as it would taste bitter, and cut them into thin strips.
In a bowl, place the jujubes, zests, and sugar, and mix. Then add 200 ml (about 1 cup) of grappa and mix well.
At this point, cover the container with plastic wrap and let the jujubes in grappa macerate for 20 days, stirring them occasionally. Just shake the bowl without having to remove the plastic wrap each time. It is preferable that they stay in a warm place where they get a bit of sun occasionally, but not direct sunlight.
After 20 days, our jujubes are ready to be canned.
Pour another 100 ml (about 0.5 cup) of grappa into the bowl and mix, sterilize glass jars, then pour the jujubes into them and cover with more grappa up to half a centimeter from the rim. Seal the jar well.
Now we must wait at least three months before we can eat our jujubes in grappa.
In the meantime, take a picture of your jujubes, post it on social media tagging me (una riccia che pasticcia Instagram and Facebook) and let me know which grappa you chose.