From Garden to Table - Romancing the Dates

I used to sit and wonder about my future, but now, I just look at you and I see all my hopes, dreams and desires wrapped into one package. These are the sweet nothings I whisper to my dates nowadays. Yes, my dates. I have four.

It was not always sugar and spice and all things nice between us. Truth be told, for 20 years, I was always plotting their demise and calling them useless or good for nothing. Just like a messy divorce, it would’ve cost me thousands of dollars to get rid of them. That was the only reason I let them stay.

But before this turns into a romance novel gone bad, I am talking about my date palms. They were on the property before we even moved to this house in 1998. Every year, we would spend a pretty penny getting them trimmed. Even the offshoots at the base were neatly chain-sawed and thrown in the dump. I always looked at them as an unnecessary expense . . . until January this year.

How I Started Dating

It actually started online but not quite like those dating sites nonsense. I had decided to turn my backyard into a food forest and grow my own organic vegetables. I searched FaceBook for gardening groups and came upon Phoenix Fruit Growers, a group of brave souls who have decided to experiment and defy climate and planting zone limitations to plant all manner of fruit trees in their backyards. So I consulted with the page owner who happens to be the Valley’s master grower, fruit tree whisperer, Jay Barringer. Jay has successfully planted over 300 fruit trees in his yard, including tropical trees that no one ever thought would grow in the Arizona desert. So when he came by, Jay noticed the four palm trees and asked, “Did you know you have date palms here? And they are females!” after he went searching on the ground and found some seeds. He suggested pollinating the trees to find out what variety they were. He said that each tree had the capability of producing 65 lbs of fruit. My jaw dropped in disbelief because I love dates and would easily pay $9.00 for a small box of organic ones at the supermarket. Here he was telling me I could have my own year’s supply of dates for free! He also suggested not to cut the offshoots as they were the “pups” that could fetch $300-$400 if it were a good variety. A light bulb moment told me that I could easily be sitting on a veritable gold mine!

You see, if you plant a date palm from seed, it will most likely outlive you and you would never see the fruit of your labor. So people got wise and started buying transplants or “pups” that would not need to grow for 20 years and 40 feet tall in order to fruit. I was lucky because my date palms were about 70-100 years old, according to Jay’s calculation, so they were old enough to fruit.

It made total sense because according to the New Times, it was in 1917 when 23 date varieties were brought to Phoenix from Arabia. “By the 1940s and early 1950s, date tree ranches stretched across the Valley from Glendale to Mesa, covering an estimated 300 acres containing 15,000 trees.” Somewhere in there, my date palms were planted as part of those 300 acres.

So, we pollinated in February. Pollination is a simple process of opening the female flower pods and inserting the male flower or dusting them with the male pollen.

We bagged them in August. I would bag them earlier next year so the birds won’t get to them. I had to hire a professional date bagger with a lift. Aside from having acrophobia, it’s no easy task to go up poking into the sharp palm needles.

Then we harvested in September. I had never seen so many dates in my life! I consulted with one of the Valley’s dates experts, Abdullah Abu Mohammed, and he identified my mystery dates as Halawi, one of the good varieties – sweet, caramel-flavored, creamy, and melt-in-your-mouth-like-butter.

Getting to Know You

So here are some interesting trivia I have learned about dates so far:

- The Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) could be the oldest tree alive having been traced back to as early as 2400 BC. Drawings and sculptures of ancient civilizations like the Babylonians, Assyrians, Sumerians, and Egyptians showed that this tree was highly revered.

-Dates are mentioned several times in the Bible and in the Quran.

-Date palm seeds can go dormant for centuries. Excavations at Herod the Great's palace in Masada, Israel in 1963-65, revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. The seeds were successfully sprouted in 2005 and one had turned into a 6-ft. tall palm tree by 2010. It was nicknamed Methuselah after the person who was listed in the Bible as having lived the longest.

-Dates can keep for many months in the refrigerator, or up to a year if frozen.

-Dates thrive in dry and warm climate.

-There are more than 200 varieties of dates.

Why You Should Date

One cup of dates can provide the recommended daily requirement of potassium to aid heart functions and daily fiber needs for colon health and to control cholesterol. They also provide calcium, zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, and other minerals that may help lower blood pressure, and the risk of stroke. Vitamin B6, present in dates, also improves brain focus.

Dates are rich in vitamins A and K, and antioxidants which fight infections and inflammation as well as promote healthy complexion from inside out. Vitamin K is also good for blood and bone health.

Dates are a good source of energy, improve overall health, and prevent chronic diseases. These are only some of the many health benefits of dates.

How To Enjoy Your Dates

Dates are so versatile with their power-packed flavor that you can do just about anything with them:

1) Eat them the way they are as an energy snack.

2) As appetizers, stuff them with an assortment of cheeses like goat cheese, mascarpone, camembert, cream cheese, and brie; fruit slices like apples, pears, or persimmons; pretzels, and nuts like pecan, walnut, and pistachios.

3) Add them to salads or roasted vegetables. They are also great as a relish, compote, or sauce.

4) They go great with meat dishes like pork loin, lamb, beef, and chicken.

5) As a natural sweetener, add them to your shakes, smoothies, juices, and morning cereal.

6) Bake with them to create yummy desserts like sticky date pudding, date bars, date loaves, and my favorite – Food For the Gods, a date and walnut bar that is a favorite among Filipinos to give away as gifts during the holidays. No one knows the origin of this baked dessert aside from maybe being renamed from the original Spanish bread called “pan de datil” that had the same exact ingredients.

Food for the Gods

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
1 cup butter about 2 sticks, softened
1 cup granulated sugar white, sifted
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dates chopped
1 cup walnuts chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt then mix well.
Cream the butter in a separate mixing bowl and add the sugar (white and brown) while continuously mixing until texture becomes fluffy.
Beat in the eggs with the butter and sugar mixture until everything is well distributed.
Gradually add the flour-baking soda-baking powder-salt mixture.
Add the dates and walnuts.
Line the baking pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter.
Bake for 35 minutes or until done (you may use the toothpick technique).
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Slice, serve and enjoy!