Hong Zao (Red Dates): How to Choose, Store and Use Jujubes

Open a Chinese pantry cupboard and you will find them sooner or later: a jar or a half-used bag of deep red, wrinkled fruit, sitting near the rice. Those are hong zao.

Hong zao （红枣） are dried jujubes — the fruit of Ziziphus jujuba — known in English as red dates or Chinese dates. They sweeten morning congee, turn up in chicken soup, and get simmered into tea. Odds are you have eaten them without ever learning their name. This guide fixes that: what they are, which forms to buy, how to spot a good batch, and how to store them so they stay good.

What Hong Zao Is

The jujube is a small deciduous tree in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, and it has been grown in China for thousands of years. China still grows more of them than anywhere else.

On the tree, the fruit starts out green and crisp, with a bite not far from an apple. As it ripens it turns brown, then dark reddish-purple. Left to dry, the skin wrinkles, the flesh concentrates, and the color settles into the deep red that gives hong zao — literally "red date" — its name. The fruit quite literally turns red as it dries.

Inside each fruit sits a single hard stone, much like an olive pit. Remember it is there; it matters at the dinner table later.

Two names, one fruit. Da zao （大枣）, "big date," is the name used in herb shops and old formula books. Hong zao is the kitchen name. And despite "date," this is no relation to the palm dates of the Middle East — the resemblance is only skin-deep, a wrinkled brown-red fruit that reminded people of a date.

The Forms You'll Meet

Dried is the form that matters for the pantry, but "dried" covers three different products.

Whole dried dates. Skin on, stone in, nothing done to them beyond drying. They hold their shape through a two-hour soup, which is what you want for broths and slow cooking. Most of what is sold as hong zao or da zao is this.

Slices. The fruit cut crosswise into rings and dried — you'll see them sold as hong zao pian. With the flesh exposed, slices give up their sweetness fast, so they earn their keep in teas and quick congee. They are also the easiest form to snack on, since the stone is gone from most pieces.

Pitted dates. Whole dates with the stone removed. Convenient for snacking, stuffing, and blending into pastes. Before they go into a soup, check a couple with your fingers — a stone that survived pitting is an unpleasant surprise in a bowl.

Fresh jujubes. Worth knowing they exist: crisp, pale, eaten like little apples in late summer. Seasonal and perishable, so they are a market treat rather than a pantry staple, and not what the rest of this guide is about.

How to Choose Good Red Dates

You are mostly buying with your eyes and fingers. Four checks do the work.

• Color first. Deep red to reddish brown, and fairly even across the batch. Pale or yellowish fruit was picked under-ripe and tastes thin. Fruit that has gone nearly black may be scorched from over-drying, or simply old.
• Skin intact. Wrinkles are expected — a dried date should look like a raisin's sturdier cousin. But the skin should not be split open, bored with holes, or filmed with anything pale and dusty.
• The squeeze test. Press one gently. Good flesh gives a little and springs back. A date that feels like a pebble has been dried too hard or kept too long and will take forever to soften in the pot; one that feels mushy, or a bag where the fruit clumps and sticks, has picked up moisture it should not have.
• Smell the bag. A ripe dried jujube smells faintly sweet, a little like honey and raisins. A sour, winey, or fermented smell means the batch has started to turn. Trust your nose over the label.
• Look at the flesh. If you can cut or bite one sample: the flesh should be golden-brown and dense, with no dark hollow eaten out around the stone.

And do not judge by size alone. Some of the most sought-after dates in China — the golden-silk dates of Cangzhou, in Hebei — are small. What they lack in size they make back in concentrated flavor. You will find whole fruit and slices side by side in our Chinese Herbs collection.

Where the Big Harvests Come From

Almost all of China's jujube crop comes out of six northern provinces: Xinjiang, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan. Between them they account for the overwhelming share of production.

Xinjiang grows the most. The recipe there is desert sun: long hours of light and sharp swings between hot afternoons and cool nights, conditions that push sugar into the fruit. Dates from Hetian, in the south of the region, are known for their size. Ruoqiang, on the edge of the Taklamakan, is famous for huizao, a grey date dried for tables across China.

The older heartland runs along the Yellow River. Shanxi and Shaanxi grow muzao, a workhorse drying date. Hebei's Cangzhou area produces the small golden-silk dates mentioned above, and Shandong remains one of the traditional growing provinces.

For a shopper, origin is a style clue, not a quality grade. Big Xinjiang dates suit snacking and stuffing. Smaller Yellow River dates disappear into soups and give up more flavor per piece. Buy the style that matches the dish.

Hong Zao in the Kitchen

Red dates are cooking ingredients first. Their job is sweetness and body.

Tea. Simmer four or five dates in water for twenty minutes and you have a naturally sweet drink, no sugar involved. Slit or halve the dates first — whole skins are good at keeping flavor in, which is the opposite of what you want in a teapot. Red dates and goji berries are paired so often in teas and soups that they function as a set; if goji is new to you, our guide to choosing, storing and using goji berries covers the other half.

Soups. A handful of whole dates goes into chicken soup, pork rib soup, and most Cantonese slow-cooked broths. Rinse them, drop them in whole, and let them simmer; pull the stones out at the table, or warn your guests. Nobody enjoys biting down on one.

Congee and grains. Throw dates into the rice cooker with your congee or mixed grains and they soften into the porridge, sweetening the whole pot. Slices work best here — they melt in rather than staying as chewy islands.

Desserts and snacks. Sweet dessert soups across southern China build on dried jujube with longan and lotus seed — the Cantonese ching bo leung is one. And plenty of people simply eat dried dates as they are, a few at a time, the way you would raisins. They are rich and sweet, so a small handful is a sensible portion.

How to Store Red Dates (and Keep Mold Away)

Dried does not mean indestructible. A dried jujube still holds roughly a fifth of its weight in water, and that is enough for mold if the fruit sits somewhere warm and damp.

• Keep dates in an airtight jar or a well-sealed bag with the air pressed out, in a cool, dark cupboard — not the steamy shelf above the stove, not next to the sink.
• In a humid climate, or through a hot summer, the refrigerator is the safer cupboard. For keeping beyond a few months, freeze them in the bag; they thaw without drama.
• Slices and pitted dates dry out and pick up moisture faster than whole fruit, because so much more flesh is exposed. Buy them in smaller amounts and use them sooner.
• Check the jar every few weeks. White or grey-green fuzz, fine webbing, a sour smell, or fruit stuck together in a damp clump — any of these means the batch is done. Throw out the lot, not just the pieces you can see; mold travels.

One habit that helps: do not wash dates before storing them. Water on the surface is an invitation. Rinse them right before they go into the pot instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are red dates the same fruit as palm dates? No. Jujubes grow on a small tree in the buckthorn family; palm dates grow on date palms. The dried fruits look alike, which is how the name crossed over, but the taste and texture are different — jujube flesh is denser and less sticky.

Should I rinse red dates before cooking? A quick rinse under running water is a good habit — dust settles on dried fruit in drying yards and warehouses. There is no need for a long soak; for tea, halving the dates releases far more flavor than soaking does.

Do the stones have to come out? Only before eating, not before cooking. Whole dates can simmer with the stone in. Use pitted dates or slices for snacks and for dishes served to children, and if whole dates go into a shared pot, say so before people start chewing.

Fresh or dried — which should I buy? Both, for different jobs. Fresh jujubes are a seasonal fruit, crisp like an apple. Dried hong zao is the year-round pantry ingredient — the one for teas, soups, congee and everything else in this guide.

Note: This product is a natural herbal material, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional before use.

Sources: Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) — botany, fruit, drying and culinary uses, via Wikipedia; jujube production regions in China, via PLOS ONE / PubMed Central.