In the distant arid desert grows a wholesome fruit on date palms that nourishes everybody from the toughest athletes to probably the most delicate infants. Whether you fancy Sukkari, Saggae, Ajwa or Medjool, the variety of dates is as vast and diversified because the ocean. With over 500 kinds of anbara dates [1], Sukkari is our most prized possession when we seek moist, candy and caramel-like flavour, whereas Ajwa is the go to for its medicinal healing. Saggae dates are a current addition for those who favor a less sweet date than the Sukkari date, and for those who love a fibrous, dense yet moist date.
The origin of dates is unknown because of ancient cultivation however they are believed to have been cultivated in the Middle East region from around 6000 B.C. Fossil records show that the date palm has existed for a minimum of 50 million years.
Since their discovery, dates have extensively spread in many regions and have been spread by Arabs to Spain, Italy, South West Asia and North Africa. Then they had been additional spread by Spaniards to Mexico and California.
The Date Palm
The date palm has separate female and male plants. Solely fifty percent of seedlings shall be female which can be grown from seed but because they develop from seed their seedling vegetation are often of lower quality. Most industrial plantations use cuttings of closely cropping cultivars. Medjool is the principle cultivar that produces particularly high yields of large, candy fruit. Crops grown from cuttings will fruit 2 to 3 years sooner than seedling plants.
The date palm productive life is limited to the years when the tree is smaller and the fruit is easier to harvest. Although the date palm is capable of dwelling as much as one hundred years or more and can attain peak between 15-30 metres. Their crown of green leaves grow between 3 to six metres in length.
The Date Pollination Method
In a pure setting, dates are pollinated by wind. However, in the commercial orchards they're pollinated manually. Natural pollination happens with about an equal number of female and male plants. Then again, one male can pollinate as much as 100 females. The male date palm is valued as a pollinator, this allows the farmers to make use of their assets for many more fruit producing female plants. Some farmers don't even preserve any male vegetation as male flowers change into available at native markets at pollination time. Handbook pollination is carried out by skilled labourers using ladders, or in some areas reminiscent of Iraq or Saudi Arabia they climb the tree utilizing a particular climbing instrument that wraps around the tree trunk and the farmers back to maintain him connected to the trunk whereas climbing. Less often, the pollen could also be blown onto the female flowers by a wind machine.
The Date Seed & How Dates Grow
Dates comprise a single seed about 2-2.5 cm lengthy and 6-eight mm thick. The kind of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose content. The seed of Sukkari is way larger than the seed of Saggae or Ajwa.
Dates grow in large clusters that develop beneath the leaves and may weigh as a lot as forty pounds. Massive bushes will yield more than a 1,000 dates annually, although they do not all ripen on the similar time so a number of harvests are required. To be able to get fruit of marketable quality, the bunches of dates should be thinned and bagged or covered earlier than ripening in order that the remaining fruits develop bigger and are shielded from weather and pests reminiscent of birds.
The Levels of Date Ripening
Dates, in addition to having totally different colours, tastes and textures all through their ripening stages, they also have totally different names in Arabic for each stage.
Phases Weeks English Arabic Description
First Stage 1 week - Hababook - The dates are small spherical and light green with horizontal stripes.
Second Stage 5-17 weeks - Green Date Kimri - The dates become oval, greener and are bitter.
Third Stage 19-25 weeks - Red/Yellow Date Khalal - The subsequent stage is the early ripening stage where the dates are yellow or red, have grown to their full measurement and style crunchy however dry with a slight sweet taste.
This is where you'd get a barhi date with a crunchy outer shell.
Fourth Stage 20-28 weeks - Moist Date Rutub - This stage the date is ripe, soft and moist. At this stage you are having fun with the delightful sukkari dates.
Last Stage 29 weeks - Dried Date Tamar - Final stage of ripening. At this stage you will see that the saggae, ajwa and medjool date.
The last three levels of ripening are when the dates are picked, fumigated, cleaned, separated, packaged after which sold to the consumer. Barhi dates are the yellow clusters that are usually found in grocery shops that are crispy and a bit astringent because they're within the Khalal stage. Once the crispy yellow flesh begins to soften, it sweetens and becomes a Rutub like our well-known Sukkari Dates. Rutub require refrigeration to extend this stage, earlier than they rework to their last stage of a dried date. Saggae, although it is a dried date, may be very soft and moist compared to different dried dates.