In the far away arid desert a healthy fruit grows on date palms that nourishes everyone from the toughest athletes to the most delicate babies. Whether you like Sukkari, Saggae, Ajwa or Medjool, the variety of dates is as wide and diversified as the ocean. With over 500 types of dates, Sukkari is our most prized possession when looking for a moist, sweet and caramel flavor, while Ajwa is the destination for medicinal healing. Saggae dates are a recent addition for those who prefer a less sweet date than the Sukkari date, and for those who love a stringy, dense but moist date.
The origin of dates is unknown due to ancient cultivation, but they are believed to have been cultivated in the Middle Eastern region around 6000 BC. C. Fossil records show that the date palm has been around for at least 50 million years.
Since their discovery, the dates have spread widely in many regions and were extended by the Arabs to Spain, Italy, Southwest Asia, and North Africa. The Spanish then spread them further to Mexico and California.
the date palm
The date palm has separate male and female plants. Only fifty percent of the seedlings will be females grown from seed, but because they are grown from seed, their seedlings are often of lower quality. Most industrial plantations use cuttings from intensively grown cultivars. Medjool is the main cultivar that produces particularly high yields of large, sweet fruit. Plants grown from cuttings will fruit 2-3 years earlier than seedlings.
The productive life of the date palm is limited to the years when the tree is smaller and the fruit is easier to harvest. Although the date palm is capable of living up to 100 years or more and can reach a height of between 15-30 meters. Its crown of green leaves grows between 3 and 6 meters long.
The date pollination method
In a natural environment, dates are pollinated by the wind. However, in commercial orchards they are pollinated manually. Natural pollination occurs with approximately equal numbers of male and female plants. On the other hand, one male can pollinate up to 100 females. The male date palm is valued as a pollinator, allowing farmers to use its resources for many more female fruit-producing plants. Some farmers do not even keep male plants, as the male flowers are available in local markets at the time of pollination. Hand pollination is carried out by skilled workers using ladders, or in some areas, such as Iraq or Saudi Arabia, they climb the tree using a special climbing tool that wraps around the trunk of the tree and the back of the farmers to hold it in place to the trunk while climbing. Less often, a wind machine can blow pollen onto female flowers.
The date seed and how dates grow
Dates contain a single seed about 2-2.5 cm long and 6-8 mm thick. The type of fruit depends on the content of glucose, fructose and sucrose. The Sukkari seed is much larger than the Saggae or Ajwa seed.
Dates grow in large clumps that develop under the leaves and can weigh up to 40 pounds. Large trees will produce more than 1,000 dates each year, although not all mature at the same time, so multiple harvests are required. To obtain fruit of marketable quality, date bunches must be grated and bagged or covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits will grow and are protected from the weather and pests such as birds.
The stages of ripening dates
Dates, in addition to having different colors, flavors and textures throughout their stages of ripening, also have different Arabic names for each stage.
Workshops Weeks English Arabic Description
First Stage 1 week – Hababook – Dates are small, round and light green with horizontal stripes.
Second Stage 5-17 weeks – Green Kimri dates – The dates become oval, greener and more bitter.
Third Stage 19-25 weeks – Red/Yellow Date Khalal – The next stage is the early ripening stage where the dates are yellow or red, have grown to full size and are crisp but dry with a slight aftertaste. sweet.
This is where you would get a barhi date with a crisp outer layer.
Fourth Stage 20-28 weeks – Rutub Wet Date – At this stage the date is ripe, soft and moist. At this stage you are enjoying the delicious sukkari dates.
Final Stage 29 weeks – Tamar Dried Date – Final stage of maturation. At this stage you will find the saggae date, ajwa and medjool.
The last three stages of ripening are when the dates are picked, fumigated, cleaned, sorted, packaged, and then sold to the consumer. Barhi dates are the yellow bunches often found in grocery stores, which are crunchy and a bit astringent because they are in the Khalal stage. Once the crisp, yellow flesh begins to soften, it sweetens and becomes a Rutub like our famous Sukkari dates. Rutub requires refrigeration to prolong this stage, before they transform to their final stage of a dried date. Saggae, although it is a dried date, it is very soft and moist compared to other dried dates.