Abstract: A winter jujube has been one of the most favorite fruits, due to the crisp texture, sweet taste, appealing flavor, and abundant nutrition. A drying process has been widely used for the storage of winter jujube. Among them, maturity can significantly determine the physicochemical properties of fresh fruits, the processing and product quality during drying. It is possible that the winter jujubes fail to reach a uniform maturity when harvesting. However, little information is available for the effect of maturity on drying and product quality. In this present study, a systematic investigation was conducted to explore the effects of different maturities on the physicochemical properties, the cell ultrastructure and microstructure, as well as the product quality of winter jujubes. The winter jujubes were classified into three maturities (stage I, II, and III), according to color and texture. Then, a pulsed-vacuum drying (drying temperature of 65℃, vacuum duration time: constant pressure duration time = 12 min: 3 min) was applied to process the winter jujubes, in order to clarify the influence of the maturity on the drying kinetics and drying quality of jujube slices. The results showed that there was an outstanding change of surface color in the jujube slices during drying, with the maturity increased from I to III. In detail, the brightness (L*) and yellowness/blueness (b*) decreased from 71.70 to 36.80 and 43.56 to 19.55, respectively, whereas, the value of red/green (a*) increased from -7.19 to 20.19. Meanwhile, there was a continuous increase in the soluble solids, titratable acid, total sugar, and reducing sugar contents, whereas, there was a significant decrease in the vitamin C content and hardness. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images illustrated that there was a separate wall of the adjacent cell and the disintegrated plasma membrane with the increase of maturity, indicating that the middle lamella layer of epidermal cells gradually dissolved in the winter jujube. Furthermore, the drying time of fruits at the maturity stage of I, II, and III were 360, 330, and 300 min, respectively. The lowest drying time was achieved in the fruits at maturity III, reducing by 20% and 10%, compared with maturity I and II. Meanwhile, the crispness and browning index of dried slices increased, whereas, the vitamin C content, rehydration capacity, total sugar, and reducing sugar contents decreased, compared with the fresh fruits. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images illustrated that the dried crisps presented a loose and porous structure of the dried winter jujube slices, with the increase of the maturity, where the diameter of the surface pore increased continuously, and the morphology changed from the fine order to disorder arrangement. Consequently, the maturity posed a significant impact on the physicochemical properties, drying kinetics, and drying quality of winter jujubes. A recommendation can be made to implement the maturity grading of winter jujube before drying for a better drying performance and product quality of winter jujube slices. In terms of drying time and product quality, the fruits at the maturity stage of III were more suited to the drying processing.