Dates from the backyard

Monday 20 October 2008

There's a tree in my backyard. An old tree with shiny-green, fine and slender leaves that I remember from my childhood.

I know that my grandfather Georgi planted it more than 50 years ago. Even in that honorable age, it's high just about 5 metres. My family supposed that it's a relative of the palm trees, but from Wikipedia I learned that its botanical name is Ziziphus ziziphus, also known as Jujube or Chinise Date. Some people here call it with the strange not local name hinap.

Hinap - view from below

Trees, belonging to the same species, grow in Haskovo and in the areas south from our city, like towns of Svilengrad and Ivaylovgrad, but also it's possible to find some specimens northern far from Haskovo.

Every autumn our hinap-tree gives to us its ripe brown sweet fruits. Initially green and hard, bit by bit they become more mellow, their colour changes and the pulp is softer.

I pick them and my mother saves them in a dry place, so we have wonderful dry fruits during the winter months.

Like the rose, protecting its beautiful blossoms, the hinap-tree keep its taste fruits with sharp thorns. I have personal experience - believe me, they're truely thorny :) But I now that the result deserve that price!

All you need is just a little patience, be calm and do your work carefully and finally you'll be satisfied with these divine gifts of the nature!

Sometimes I eat the fruits raw and sometimes I put few of them in my tea. The combination of hinap and herbs makes a really interesting blend.

A cup of hinap fruits