candied Olives anyone?

[divina]

I am preparing for a presentation on olives for IACP in Dallas this year.. and have just heard about the chinese candied olives..

anyone had them?

My mom grew up in Shanghai but I don't remember her talking about them.

Are olives a new part of the Chinese culture?

[helenjp]

No, not new. I've known of them and eaten them for...er...close on 30 years. First encountered them as a university student at the Chinese grocery where I worked. MOst of the food was Cantonese, so I'm vaguely surprised that they wouldn't be known in Shanghai. Certainly saw some in Singapore, which has (or had) a largely Cantonese culture (apart from the older local Chinese, that is).

These are not olives as we know them though - they have a longer pit and a more fibrous flesh. I've had them sweetish and also with chilis.

[Dejah]

I grew up with salty/ licorice flavoured dried olives. They have a light brown colour and are chewy. These were treated as snacking food.

We also use olives that have been fermented in soya sauce then dried, like the fermented soy beans, in cooking. These are used in steamed dishes with fatty pork, and in a vegetarian dish called JIA.

[Ben Hong]

The more common name for "olives" is the Chinese jujube.

[Yuki]

Maybe this is the stuff(飛機欖) that my parents used to get when they were kids, they would call down from their apartment to order. Then the seller would throw the bags up to the apartment with great accuracy. They are preserved with liquorice, salt, and some herbs.

[Dejah]

Mmmmmmm....Gam towh lam

[wesza]

In "Hawaii" they were referred to as "Crack Seed Olives".

In "Hong Kong" they are available in several dozen variations, sweet, sour, salty and pickled.

An even more unusual type I purchased this week at a Korean grocery in Seattle.

"JUJUBE TEA" from the "Samhwa Hangyang Foods Co Ltd" imported from Korea by a Hawaiian Company.

Contents are: Jujube Extract, Flesh of Jujube, Oligo Sugar [?], Honey and Sugar. It comes in a 35.3 oz Jar and retails for $9.99

Apparently it's used as a Tea, Condiment or Enhancer it really loaded with sliced olives is sweet and interesting while I'm not fond of it I'm not able to resist something that piques my interest even though my friends seem to like it added to their tea for a sweetener.

Irwin

[chefzadi]

Is the Chinese Jujube the same as the Korean jujube? In America my wife has always heard Korean jujubes referred to as Korean dates. So they also considered Chinese olives? If so this olive is not related to the Mediteranean olives, at least not in tast, appearance, etc... Maybe they are botanically related.

[Ben Hong]

They are not olives at all. Yes zadi, they are the same as the Korean ones.

[Pan]

I've had Chinese sweet preserved jujubes and olives, and they definitely aren't the same thing. Jujubes are a kind of date for sure.

[divina]

thanks.. I had seen the jujube's ina many recipes ( and though they were sort of a date thing) The Chinese olives do look more like a date..

Confusion???

[Pan]

I've done a little web research and have found out that the jujube is actually not at all closely related to the date, but neither is it closely related to the olive.

General information about Ziziphus:

The genus Ziziphus (ber, jujube) belongs to the buckthorn familiy (Rhamnaceae). It is a genus of about 100 species of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Johnston 1963). Some species, like Z. mauritiana and Z. jujuba, occur on nearly every continent, whereas other species, like Z. nummularia, Z. spina-christi and Z. mucronata, are restricted in their distribution to distinct areas. Ziziphus species can grow either as trees and shrubs (Z. mauritiana, Z. rotundifolia, Z. jujuba, Z. mucronata) or exclusively as small shrubs or bushes (Z. nummularia, Z. lotus, Z. spina-christi, Z. obtusifolia).

Ziziphus jujuba is the Chinese jujube.

It is mentioned on http://www.desert-tropicals.com that Olea europaea (Olive) is a member of the Oleaceae Family.

A page on the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Department at the University of Arizona Pima County shows that the date palm has the Latin designation Phoenix dactylifera, and is a member of the Palmae family, which also appears to be called the Arecaceae family. You can see a listing of genera of that family here.

[Wolfert]

I remember the late Professor Phyllis Brober telling a group of food writers at an Oldways conference on the island of Djerba the following, "when Homer wrote about the 'lotus-eaters" he was referring to the jujubes on this island."

[Ben Hong]

Thank you for the excellent reseach ,Pan. Jujubes add a sweetish flavour to soups and steamed dishes like "steamed chicken and mushrooms". The Toishanese pronounciation for them is "hoong daw" (hoong=red), whereas the the other so-called "olive" is called "lum jwun" or in the case of the black fermented halves of them, "lum-see". The "daw" and the "lum" are not the same species(?).

[divina]

Thanks for all the help, we are getting some candied olives for the tasting and hope also some salted preserved ones!

( thanks to Paula Wolfert.. also found some other fun olive recipes)