Table of Contents
Zao Ni {枣泥}, or jujube paste, is a traditional Chinese food, usually as pastry filling. Recently I figured out a way to make red jujube paste at home using just the red jujube {红枣} itself. Yes, making Zao Ni {枣泥} at home is much easier than you think. You can enjoy this all-natural wholesome jujube paste itself, and/or use it to make iconic Chinese pastry such as Zao Ni Ma Ping {枣泥麻饼}.
What is Zao Ni {枣泥}?
It literally translates as jujube mud. The reddish dark brown jujube paste reminds people of the mud, hence the name. I often amazed by how witty ancient Chinese were. They call the jujube paste “mud” {Ni 泥}, while calling red bean paste “sand” {Sha 沙}.
By the way, I am also a huge fan of Hong Dou Sha {红豆沙 Red Bean Paste}. You can also make homemade adzuki bean paste at home easy and healthy. Adzuki bean, often referring as red bean due to its beautiful red color.
Red jujube {红枣}, sometime referred as Chinese date or red date, is a traditional well-liked fruit in China. While the fresh jujube, which often has a hue of rusty iron/beige color, is crunchyly tasty. The dried version is more popular due to its much longer shelf life. The jujube turns into dark red color during the drying process.
Jujube Fun Facts and Health Benefits
Jujube is an ancient Chinese plant. Since ancient time, people in China have been cultivating them for more than 4,000 years. You can eat them as healthy snacks, add to the iconic “Eight Treasure Tea“, or add to the traditional Chinese soup such as Bitter Melon Rib Soup.
These lovely Red Dates are super nutritious, and are undoubtedly superfood. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) hailed jujube as an all time anti-aging remedy. You might have heard “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away” in the west world. In China, we have a similar saying stating “Three Red Dates {Jujube} a day, keeps Your Youth Forever” { Yi Tian San Ke Zao, Qing Chun Yong Bu Lao 一天三颗枣，青春永不老}.
Jujube is especially rich in potassium and vitamins, and contain high antioxidants.
How to make Chinese Jujube Paste at Home?
It is extremely straightforward to make Chinese Red Date Paste at home. The fruit is sweet and chewy. You do not need anything else but the jujube itself.
After wash & rinse the jujube thoroughly, just add enough water to barely cover the fruit, and then bring it to a boil. After that, turn the heat to the lowest and let it simmer for one hour.
I usually cook the jujube in a large dutch oven made of cast iron, which has a superb heat distribution and retention capabilities.
Once it cools down enough to handle with hands, add the fully hydrated and slow cooked jujube to a stainless steel colander. Use hands to press and push the jujube through the holes, which becomes the all natural wholesome Zao Ni {枣泥}.
I really love this colander, their holes are just the right size to do a puree like this. The holes are big enough for all the goodies to pass through, but leave the skins and seeds behind.
I use it to puree tomato and sift rice flour combo for the Suzhou-style Sponge Rice Cake {Song Bao 松糕}.
I do want to give you a heads-up that this process does take a bit of time. Add a small batch to the colander, ware a pair of food gloves and slowly & surely press and push the jujube meat through the holes. Due to its natural stickiness, the paste doesn’t fall by itself, use a silicone spatula to scrape off the bottom of the colander and then repeat.
I usually prepare 2 pounds (lbs) of dried jujube which makes about 6 cups of jujube paste.
Enjoy a wholesome all-natural one ingredient homemade Zao Ni {枣泥}, Chinese Red Date Paste!
Zao Ni {枣泥} Homemade Jujube Paste Recipe
Zao Ni {枣泥}, or jujube paste, is a traditional Chinese food, usually as pastry filling. Recently I figured out a way to make red jujube paste at home using just the red jujube {红枣} itself.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of dried jujube
- 6 cups of water
Instructions
- Wash and rinse the dried jujube in a large washing basin multiple times, until the water is clear.
- Add the jujube to a dutch oven {about 7.5 Qt} along with approximately 3 cups of water. The water should barely cover the Chinese Red Dates. The goal is to use enough water to hydrate the dried jujube and boil/steam the jujube at the same time., By the end of the cooking, the jujube should be fully hydrated & cooked and water is nearly gone.
- Cover the dutch oven with a lid, turn the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil, about 8-10 minutes. Then turn the heat to simmer and cook for 1 hour. By the end of the 1 hour, the jujube should be fully hydrated and thoroughly softened, and water is nearly gone.
- Wait about 30 minutes to let it cool down enough for your hands to be able to handle.
- Put the stainless steel colander on top of a large mixing bowl to catch the paste, and then add a small batch of cooked jujube to colander. Put on a pair of food handling gloves and use hands to press and push the jujube meat through the holes.
- Use a silicone spatula to scrape the paste off the bottom of the colander and add to the mixing bowl.
- Continue the process until you've done with all of the cooked jujube. Gather all the paste using the silicone spatula and add to a glass bowl to use in the next week. This recipe makes about 6 cups of jujube paste, Zao Ni {枣泥}.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small amount of commission from the qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 24Total Fat 0.1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0.1gCholesterol 0mgSodium 2mgCarbohydrates 6.1gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0.3g
Nutrition calculation is either provided by Nutritionix or "verywellfit.com" to the best of my knowledge. Nevertheless, I use lots of homemade, all natural, unprocessed, unrefined raw & wholesome ingredients which are not always readily available in these two referenced resources. Therefore the calculation may not always be accurate.
