Date

Home

Luffa

Mangosteen

Fig

The fruit is a drupe known as a date. They are oval-cylindrical, 3-7 cm long, and 2-3 cm diameter, and when unripe, range from bright red to bright yellow in colour, depending on variety. Dates contain a single seed about 2-2.5 cm long and 6-8 mm thick. Three main Cultivar Groups of date exist; soft (e.g. 'Barhee', 'Halawy', 'Khadrawy', 'Medjool'), semi-dry (e.g. 'Dayri', 'Deglet Noor', 'Zahidi'), and dry (e.g. 'Thoory'). The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose content. Dates are naturally wind pollinated but in modern commercial horticulture are entirely pollinated manually. Natural pollination requires about an equal number of male and female plants. However, with assistance, one male can pollenize up to 50 females. Since the males are of value only as pollenizers, this allows the growers to use their resources for many more fruit producing female plants. Some growers do not even maintain any male plants as male flowers become available at local markets at pollination time. Manual pollination is done by skilled laborers on ladders or less often the pollen may be blown onto the female flowers by wind machine. Parthenocarpic cultivars are available but the seedless fruit is smaller and of lower quality. Dates ripen in four stages, which are known throughout the world by their Arabic names kimri (unripe), khalal (full-size, crunchy), rutab (ripe, soft), tamr (ripe, sun-dried). A 100 gram portion of fresh dates is a premium source of vitamin C and supplies 230 kcal (960 kJ) of energy. Since dates contain relatively little water, they do not become much more concentrated upon drying, although the vitamin C disappears in the process. Dates are an important traditional crop in Iraq, Arabia, and north Africa west to Morocco. In Islamic countries, dates and milk are a traditional first meal when the sun sets during Ramadan. Dates (especially Medjool and Deglet Noor) are also cultivated in southern California in the United States.