Chico

'Chico', also catalogued as GI 7-62, is an American-bred jujube: an open-pollinated seedling of the ornamental cultivar 'So', selected at the Chico Plant Introduction Station in California. Its signature is shape. Instead of the usual date-like oval, 'Chico' produces oblate fruit flattened at both ends with faint lobing, so a bowl of them reads like a batch of miniature pumpkins. The flavor carries more acid than most jujubes, giving it a tart-sweet balance that some growers prefer to the straight sugar of 'GA-866' or 'Sugar Cane'. It ripens mid-season over a notably long window, spreading the harvest out rather than dumping it. The tree is spreading, bushy and genuinely spiny, which is the main thing to plan around.