Intrigued? There’s good reason to consider adding this healing food to your diet. Here’s a comprehensive rundown of jujube benefits, where to find them, and how to eat them. Robert Rountree, M.D.—an integrative medicine physician and speaker at revitalize 2018—loves jujube and has prescribed it for many years for patients with sleep problems explaining, “It’s the best thing going for enhancing the quality of sleep.* One thing I particularly like about this herb is that it is also a food that is very gentle and doesn’t knock people out or cause hangovers the morning after taking it.”* That’s why mbg chose to put jujube in its first sleep-promoting supplement, sleep support+, which combines the fruit with a relaxing blend of magnesium glycinate and pharmaGABA for a deeper, more restorative rest.* One study3 found that jujube seed extract promotes stress management in mice at lower doses and supports sleep at higher doses.* While you’re not going to knock yourself out by consuming a few fresh jujubes or jujube dates, teas and supplements do contain more concentrated levels of these calming compounds, so always start slow and see how your body reacts.* The best part? Jujube fruit is legitimately tasty. Fresh jujubes, which come from the small deciduous jujube tree, are oval-shaped drupes—fleshy fruits with thin skin and a central stone—that taste similar to a very sweet apple. Mature dried jujubes, on the other hand, are often referred to as jujube dates, as they’re dark brown and wrinkly with a flavor similar to regular dates. Jujubes can also be brewed into a mildly fruity tea. Dried jujubes, or jujube dates, are easier to get your hands on. In addition to Asian markets, they’re readily available to purchase online. Use them any way you’d use typical dates—blended into a smoothie for sweetness, stuffed with goat cheese, or simmered into a jujube tea. To make your own tea, simply combine a pound of jujube dates, a gallon of water, and a few slices of ginger in a large pot and simmer up to four hours. The result is mildly fruity with a hint of spice. And finally, supplements that incorporate jujube make it easy to reap the fruit’s potential benefits. There’s been one reported interaction of jujube with the drug venlafaxine, which is used to treat depression and social anxiety disorder. Jujubes may also lower blood sugar if consumed in large amounts, making it important to monitor blood sugar levels closely if you have diabetes.
