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Today we will talk about dates and date palm.
This small brown fruit is a real miracle of nature.
A little water and a handful of dates can help you survive a few days in the wilderness.
No wonder these berries are called desert bread.
We still know relatively little about this product.
The word "date" comes from the Greek word daktylos, which means finger.
This oriental superfood should be golden yellow, soft and sweet like sugar.
And the date tastes like honey.
This berry is used as a sugar substitute in the form of date sugar or as a syrup.
Dates are now popular all over the world.
They are often used as a natural sweetener in smoothies, juices, nutrition bars, and
baked goods such as cakes and muffins.
The scientific name for the date palm is Phoenix dactylifera.
It is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae.
It is cultivated for its edible sweet fruits.
The date palm is one of the oldest trees in the world.
Ancient records show that the date palm has been around for at least 50 million years.
It was cultivated in the fifth century BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Date palms can only be found in oases where there is enough water so that they can grow
in the desert, subjected to unbearable heat and sandstorms.
And although date palms are adapted to hot and dry climates, they consume more water
than other desert-tolerant plants.
It takes 2 cubic meters of water to produce 1 kg of dates.
One scientific solution to keep this plant moist is to dig holes around the tree so that
the roots absorb enough water.
The largest, sweetest and most delicious dates ripen in the climatic zone of the Arabian
Peninsula.
Dates from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are considered the best in the world.
Record holders for their production are Egypt, Iran, Algeria and Tunisia, where date palms
grow historically in an optimal hot climate for them.
Dates also grow in the Canary Islands, South Africa, India and California.
The date palm is the national symbol of Israel and Saudi Arabia, representing vitality and
growth.
Date trees usually reach a height of about 21-23 meters, they grow singly or form thickets
with several stems from a single root system.
The base of the tree trunk is surrounded by old fallen leaves.
The tree trunk ends with a crown of leaves.
The length of each leaf is about 5 m.
The date palm leaf has a strong midrib with narrow pinnate leaflets on either side of
the midrib.
The flower tufts are found between the tree and the base of the leaf.
They are long and hang from the top of the palm tree.
The date palm is a dioecious plant.
Male and female inflorescences are located on different trees.
Date palms are wind pollinated.
When laying commercial plantations, for every several dozen female trees, a male tree is
necessarily planted for cross-pollination.
The female tree produces fruit.
The male tree produces enough pollen to pollinate 40-50 trees.
Date palms bloom from February to November, depending on the variety and region.
It is possible to determine the sex of plants only during flowering.
Male date palm trees bloom in large, bushy inflorescences consisting of small three-petaled
flowers with numerous stamens.
Male flowers are solitary, white and waxy.
For better pollination, blooming male inflorescences are often cut and hung in the crowns of flowering
female trees.
On the female date palm trees, the inflorescences are also arranged in large brushes, but they
look a little different.
The female date flower looks like a small ball without petals.
In case of successful pollination, a date fruit will grow from each such flower-ball.
In date palms, the fruiting period begins early.
The first fruits on female trees appear already at the age of four.
Young palm trees by this time do not yet have time to grow a tall trunk, and bunches of
dates often turn out to be lying on the ground.
On some plantations, such fruit clusters are tied to supports to avoid contact with the
soil, but this is not always and not always done.
That is why dates purchased at the market or in a store are strongly recommended to
be washed before use, especially in countries with unfavorable sanitary and epidemiological
conditions.
The date fruit is a drupe and has only one seed.
The part surrounding the seed is soft, fleshy and edible.
The fruits are bright red to bright yellow in color, depending on the variety.
Muslims consider date palms and dates sacred, and throughout the religious fasting period
of Ramadan, these dried fruits are a common ingredient in their diet.
Unripe dates are green; as they mature, they become reddish brown or dark brown.
Date fruits are usually oblong in shape, 3 to 7 cm long and about 2.5 cm in diameter.
They can vary in shape, size, color, quality and consistency of the pulp depending on the
variety.
More than a thousand dates appear in one bunch weighing 8 kg or more.
Depending on the moisture content, they can be divided into soft, semi-dry and dry dates.
Dry chewing dates last longer without spoiling.
Dates can take about seven months to ripen after they appear on the tree's brush.
Each fetus goes through four main stages of development, which include:
Kimri - creamy white fruits turn green, quickly increase in size, contain up to 85% moisture,
bitter and tart, due to the large amount of tannins.
Halal - the berry began to ripen, becomes yellow or red, hard, bitter.
The amount of sugars increases, astringency decreases.
Some varieties can be harvested at this stage.
Rutab - fruits ripen 5-7 weeks after halal, their tips darken, moisture content drops
to 35%, weight is lost, the shell hardens, the pulp becomes soft and sugary.
Tamr - occurs 3 weeks after rutab, harvest time.
Humidity of fruits is about 20%.
Since the height of the palm trees reaches 20 meters and above, collecting dates is not
an easy task.
Ripe dates begin to turn brown.
They become slightly soft to the touch.
As these signs appear, it is time to collect ripe fruits.
Ripe dates are often eaten by birds, so they are covered with a net.
As the dates mature, they also begin to shrivel.
They almost look like a big highlight.
When checking ripe dates, pay attention to these wrinkles.
Dates ripen at different times.
To maximize the number of dates you need to get from a tree, check it at least once a
week for ripe dates.
Branches with pink-orange fruits will ripen in about a week.
Dates grow closer to the top of the tree, under the leaves.
Many locals climb the palm tree barefoot, but for those who are not used to it, this
may not be a good idea.
Therefore, the assembler should choose shoes that can hold on well while climbing.
The best option is an electronic tree lift that allows you to climb up and inspect the
dates without climbing up the tree.
This also makes it easier to access the dates as they hang outward from the tree.
To protect themselves while climbing, assemblers have to use rope belay.
It will prevent falling from the tree.
Basically, these belays are similar to climbing harnesses.
Ripe dates come off the stem with very little resistance.
The dates should be picked one at a time so as not to damage them by pulling too much
at once.
Toward the end of the season, all the dates on the branch ripen.
At this point, the easiest way is to cut the bunch and collect the dates from the ground.
To cut the bunch, the machete is brought to the base of the bunch near the tree.
The cut bunch is carefully lowered to the ground.
Unripe dates ripen in the sun.
Usually on a hot day, yellow-pink dates are laid out on a tarp.
They stay there until they turn brown and soft.
This means that they are ripe.
Each fruit can contain between 60 and 70 percent sugar, as well as high amounts of fiber, depending
on the variety, making dates ideal as a source of healthy energy.
Dates are a concentrated source of natural sugars.
Therefore, people with diabetes should monitor their blood sugar levels and consume fruits
in moderation.
Dates are also rich in iron, potassium, B vitamins, copper and magnesium.
Fruits can help fight anemia.
The date palm has over 3,000 varieties worldwide.
In the Middle East, you can find many shops selling dates.
This Saudi Arabian vendor shows you what varieties of dates he has, as well as their prices.
In addition to dried dates, the shopkeeper also shows fresh fruits.
He also has a lot of packaged fruits, and natural date syrup.
In the processing plant, whole dates are first washed to remove dust and debris.
The fruit then passes through vibrating metal tables equipped with sprinklers and cleaning
brushes.
The vibration helps to sort the dates.
Smaller berries pass through sieves on the production line and are then processed into
a paste.
Larger ones are packed and stored for export.
After the product leaves the production line, it is left to dry before packaging, but it
is never chemically dried.
The shelf life of products is usually about 18 months.
The value of the date palm is hard to overestimate.
No wonder every year in the large oasis of El Liwa in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates, a festival is held in her honor.
The oasis is home to most of the date palm plantings in the Emirates.
A large number of tourists from different countries come to the festival.
As part of the festival, off-road rallies and camel races are also held.
The festival is also a great opportunity to learn about Emirati customs and traditions,
as well as discover local industries and handicrafts.
About 35 public and private companies are setting up pavilions in the exhibition area
of the Liwa Dates Festival, promoting modern models and achievements in the field of date
production.
Liwa Dates Festival winners receive cash prizes.
They become famous and their dates become extremely sought after in
the market.
In addition to fruits, the date palm gives sweet juice.
The picker cuts off part of the date palm and then fixes a bamboo tube there to collect
the sap.
The sap flows down the pipe into the clay pot during the night and is collected the
next morning.
The juice is then either sold raw or made into molasses.
To prepare a kilogram of molasses, you need five liters of juice.
That's all.
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