An Australian fresh produce trading company says there has been plenty of excitement surrounding the emerging fruit jujube, which only has a very short season in Australia.
Produce Art, based in Brisbane, supplies the emerging fruit and Director Rohan Bicknell says it is a fairly new fruit to the Australian market but still very popular.
"It has sentimental value to the Chinese population, where it is a favourite fruit," he said. "It has been grown for hundreds of years, and they have a lot of different varieties over there. It is not just eaten fresh, but also in the dry form. We don't have as many varieties over here as yet, but it is slowly on the increase. We have some fanatical growers who have been doing a great job with successfully growing it, and that is getting better as they learn what varieties grow better and how they perform in the Australian climate. We do have the traditional growers putting more trees in, but predominantly, they are looking at the quality side of things because they really want to keep the standard up. But overall, we are seeing more growers trying to grow the fruit commercially, and if the quality is not there, unfortunately, they will be left behind."
Most of Australia's jujubes are traditionally grown in arid areas, such as Mildura, Griffith and Western Australia, however, there are more growers coming online in South Australia and Queensland, as the market grows for the fruit.
"There has been that much demand that it was easy to get $20 per kilogram," Mr Bicknell said. "But the new developments mean that everyone has seen the money that jujubes have been able to get, so the prices have been coming down. But look, that was always going to happen. But it's a bit of a bandwagon thing, where people who may not have known how to grow it are starting to, creating different markets based on quality. It is a bit unfortunate because people who want to try it, finally do eat it, and it tastes horrible. So, they will be turned off because of the experience."
In saying that, Mr Bicknell added that it is normally one of the sweetest fruits he has sold.
"It is one of the crispiest fruits, so if you bite it, it has a crunch unlike any other fruit - it is magical nearly," he said. "It is one of the highest Brixing fruits that I have ever come across. Some varieties have a Brix over 30, which is phenomenal. It is a very addictive snackable fruit, and it's not just for the Asian palate, it seems to sell well with Aussies and other cultures. The next big move for Australian jujubes is to find an export market, which we are working very hard to do moving forward. So, it is quite exciting to develop, because we have some different varieties to those that the traditional Chinese exporters are selling. We feel that once they taste the varieties that we are growing, it would be very marketable for buyers overseas, especially in Asia. There are no protocol opportunities open yet, but we will be targeting the main three."
Mr Bicknell warns that the fruit is susceptible to fruit fly and splitting, and in some regions the fruit is not maturing properly, creating low sugar content.
"Certainly, the fruit coming out of Queensland is much earlier, which has been interesting to see that we can potentially extend the season 
a little bit longer than it was previously," he said. "It was a short sharp fruit, and our main grower is in Mildura, called Jujube Australia. He does a fantastic job and sets the standard with quality and taste - but he will only go for a solid month basically with fresh fruit. But he is very in tune with the quality; there's no point starting early because the sweetness isn't there, and there is no point pushing the boundaries because you don't want soft fruit or defects."
For more information:
Rohan Bicknell
Produce Art
Phone: +61 409 907 626
[email protected]
www.produceart.com.au
