Delicious Dates

If you want to try anything sweeter than sugar, eat dates. Dates grow on a tree with a slender trunk that grows to one hundred feet high. This tree is a date palm called Phoenix Dactylifera. This tree only exists in a hot climate, and lives a long time. The leaves of the Phoenix Dactylifera are ten to twenty feet long with a stiff crown.

Dates grow in tight clusters. They are green when unripe, and red or yellow when it is ripe. The flesh of the dates are thick and sweet. Dates are either hard and dry or soft. Dates have been in existence for more than 5000 years. They are thought to have originated from Southwest Asia and Arabia. Before Christianity began, they were also consumed in Egypt.

Date palm trees don't need much water than other plants that produce fruit. It was an important food for people in the desert. The middle eastern and North African people most likely would not have survived without them. Dates were the main export and cash crop. The date palm also gives shade from the sun. Mohamed called the palm blessed. Arabs have said " Bless the date palm trees, for they are your aunts."

Greeks thought dates to be a symbol of fertility, riches and light. Cleopatra ate them, and drank date wine, as well as the Greeks. Not only did people eat and drink dates, they used the leaves in their roofs, baskets and walls. The fiber was also made into ropes. Pits of the dates were roasted and brewed into something similar to coffee.

The year dates were brought to America is not known.The Spanish planted them in the missions in the Southwest before 1800. Today, dates are grown in California and Arizona. You can buy them all year. When buying dates, they should be a rich, dark brown color. They dates should be fairly large, soft with smooth and shiny skin. There are also chocolate covered dates that are stuffed and rolled in coconuts.

Storage

Dates should be kept covered in the refrigerator. An unopened package can stay on a kitchen shelf for four to six months. In the refrigerator, opened, two months. Dates are a good source of protein, iron and sugar.

Preparing Dates

Slit the dates lengthwise using a knife and remove the pit. To cut them, use kitchen shears or a sharp knife on a cutting board. So it will not stick, dip whatever you use to cut them into water.