Jujubes (the fruit) not to be confused with Jujubes (the candy). Ours are produced on a tree, theirs in a factory. Also, ours won't pull the fillings out of your teeth.

Our jujube's are a type of fruit common across much of Asia. It is sold both fresh and dried, with the dried version sometimes called a Chinese Date, due to its sweet granular texture and single seed. The jujube has over four hundred cultivars in China, where it was grown for centuries before being introduced to Europe by explorers. In Europe, dried jujubes became wildly popular, and the term came to refer to any candy or sweet, the likely reason the name was chosen for a type of candy popular in the Southern United States.

The jujube fruit appears in the fall and is usually round in shape, although some cultivars have oblong fruit. The fruit is red when ripe, with a soft, edible skin surrounding creamy, sweet flesh. The fruit does not remain ripe for long, however. It soon begins to shrivel and dry on the tree into a brownish, wrinkled fruit that is also edible. For this reason, many cultivators leave the fruit on the tree to dry before collecting it for storage. In taste, the jujube resembles an apple, although it has a distinct flavor all its own.
Fresh ripe jujubes are very delicate and will keep approximately one week in refrigeration. They will not ripen further once removed from the tree, although they can bruise. Drying jujubes can be done in a dehydrator and can be keep sealed up to one year.