Dates

Dates

Dates are the fruit of the date palm. They have been a staple food of the Middle East for thousands of years. The date palm is believed to have originated around the Persian Gulf, and has been cultivated in ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt. There is archeological evidence of cultivation in eastern Arabia in 4,000 BC.

In later times, Arabs spread dates around northern Africa and into Spain, and dates were introduced into California by the Spaniards in 1765. Dates are an important traditional crop in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, U.A.R., Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, USA, and in small quantities in Spain, Mexico, Yemen and Israel. There are about 400 varieties known in Iran, but only few of them are commercially important.

According to their fleshiness, dates are classified as Soft Date (Barhee, Halawy, Khadrawy, Medjool); Semidry Date (Dayri, Deglet Noor, Zahidi); Dry Date (Thoory).

They are dark reddish brown, 3–7 cm long, 2–3 cm diameter, oval-cylindrical, and about 1 1/2 inches long. The skin is wrinkled and coated with a sticky, waxy film. Depending on its variety, when unripe, they range from bright red to bright yellow in color. Dates contain a single seed about 2–2.5 cm long and 6–8 mm thick and it takes six to seven months to develop its sugar characteristics The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose content.

            The date palm is extensively cultivated for its edible fruit. This is one of the three economically important fruit crops in the palm family. The palm needs dry, hot climates, because date fruits are injured at temperatures of 20 degrees F. It is a medium-sized tree, 15–25 m tall, often clumped with several trunks from a single root system, but also often growing singly. The leaves are pinnate, up to 3 m long, with spines on the petiole and about 150 leaflets; the leaflets are 30 cm long and 2 cm broad. It has slender trunk, 18in diameter, leaf base scars form interesting geometric pattern. A single cluster can hold 600 to 1,700 date. Date palms can grow as tall as 100 feet and stay in production for over 60 years. Dates ripen in four stages, which are known throughout the world by their Arabic names kimri (unripe), khalal (full-size, crunchy), rutab (ripe, soft), tamr (ripe, sun-dried).

Dates are naturally wind pollinated. Since Babylonian times, dates have been hand-pollinated. Pollination is done by skilled laborers on ladders, or less often the pollen may be blown onto the female flowers by wind machine.

Dates are used widely in sweet and savory dishes such as puddings, bread, cakes, desserts etc. Dates are also processed into cubes, paste, spread, date syrup or ‘honey’, powder (date sugar), vinegar or alcohol. Recent innovations include products such as sparkling date juice, used in some Islamic countries as a non-alcoholic version of champagne. In Islamic countries, dates and milk are a traditional first meal when the sun sets during Ramadan.

Tender date leaves are cooked and eaten as vegetable. In some places, date seeds are roasted, ground, and used to adulterate coffee powder and the powder is also mixed with flour to make bread in times of scarcity. In North Africa, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, date palms are tapped for the sweet sap which is converted into palm sugar, molasses or alcoholic beverages. There are said to be at least 800 uses of the date. It is used in the confectionery for its excellent storage properties. Dried dates are fed to camels, horses and dogs in the Sahara desert. Date seeds are soaked and ground up as animal feed