A Date With Dates

A fruit with health benefits.

- Maharaaj K. Koul

“Honour your uncle, the palm!” Prophet Muhammad (to the faithful)

The good old date. In winter who can say no to the good old date? And better still, in a hot glass of milk.

The date, or the sweet fruit, goes back to 6000 BC. Dates were cultivated in prehistoric Egypt and later, Arabs spread dates around the world. The Bible speaks of the date tree, you can see it in many masterpieces of European art, providing shade to the Holy Family on their way to Egypt. Sun-baked bricks, made more than 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, record directions for growing the tree.

Muslims observe fast during the Ramzan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. Those on day-long fast generally break their fast by eating dates.

Even today, the tree is almost revered in North Africa and Arabia. And the reasons aren’t far to seek: the locals cook and eat the fruit, make it into wine, use the seeds to make a coffee substitute, the wood to build houses, while the leaves provide thatch. Sure calls for respect, doesn’t it? Dates are not grown generally in humid climate. Earlier they were grown from Morocco in the west to India in the east.

The world’s most popular dates are the deglet noor. They are sold with the fruit attached to the stalk. And interestingly, dates are counted among dry fruits even when they are plucked fresh from the tree.

Iraq is the biggest date-growing country in the world. Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Iran, Egypt and a few other West Asian countries too grow dates. In fact, this fruit is an integral part of the diet of many Arabs and hence is called the ‘bread of the desert’. Besides being a treat to the palate, dates are a treasure trove of medicinal value and can be dried and preserved for long periods of time for off-season consumption.