Basic Introduction to Nanchangtan Jujubes
Nanchangtan jujubes are a local specialty of Nanchangtan Village, Shapotou District, Zhongwei City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. They have a long history and a unique geographical location, which endows them with distinctive quality characteristics and safety requirements.
Nanchangtan jujubes have been proven to have various effects such as anti-allergic reactions, liver protection, muscle strength enhancement, sedation, sleep induction, and blood pressure reduction. They are highly favored for their unique quality characteristics and safety requirements. As an excellent local specialty, they are much sought after by people.
In addition, Nanchangtan jujubes have strict safety requirements, with standards strictly enforced in terms of production environment, food contaminants, and pesticide residues. Only Nanchangtan jujubes that meet these requirements can truly ensure their quality and safety.
Product Characteristics
1. External Sensory Features:
Nanchangtan jujubes are large and oval or nearly round in shape. The fruit shoulders are rounded, slightly raised, and the stem depression is medium-deep and wide. The fruit apex is flat, the fruit surface is smooth and glossy. The fruit skin is dark red, and the lenticels are brown and circular. The average fruit weight is 18.5g, with the largest fruit weighing 30g.
2. Internal Quality Characteristics:
Total sugar content is 71.2-76.8%, total acid content is 0.72-0.77%.
Historical and Folk Customs
The cultivation of jujubes in the region has a long history. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, Huang Enxi, then magistrate of Zhongwei, wrote in his “Bamboo Branch Poetry of Zhongwei,” “Relatives and friends exchange gifts with affection; every year, we are delighted with the autumn harvest. Yongkang wine-soaked jujubes are sent in bottles, and steamed jujubes from the garden have always been famous.” In his “Miscellaneous Poems of Spring Travel,” he wrote, “In spring, I ride slowly on my horse, watching the mountains all the way to the jujube garden,” vividly depicting the prosperous scenes of jujube tree cultivation and jujube processing on the Weining Plain over 200 years ago.
According to the “County Annals of Zhongwei” from the Qing Dynasty during the Qianlong period, “There were jujubes, pears, peaches, crab apples, hawthorns, apples, mulberries, grapes, apricots, desert jujubes, and wolfberries.” During the Republican era, jujubes, pears, apricots, crab apples, hawthorns, grapes, and wolfberries were the main varieties, with extensive cultivated areas. “During the Republican era, there were many jujube gardens, wolfberry gardens, and crab apple orchards in places like Yongkang, Xuzhuang, Zao Garden, Shaotan, Nanchangtan, Caiqiao, and Xindun. Their jujubes, wolfberries, long-stalked pears, and fragrant pears were well-known far and wide.”
In October 2008, Nanchangtan Village, Xiangxiang Township, Zhongwei, was designated as the first “National Historic and Cultural Village” in Ningxia by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, demonstrating its long history and profound cultural heritage.
Awards and Honors
On November 5, 2015, the former Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China approved the registration and protection of the geographic indication for “Nanchangtan Jujubes” as a national agricultural product.