The date fruit is one of the most ancient crops, growing for thousands and thousands of years.
Cooking with dates is easy. North African recipes use Deglet Noor dates as an ingredient for breakfast, lunch, dinner or appetizers and dessert. Often cooking with dates in African recipes, Deglet Noor dates are stuffed with sweet or savory fillings or simply enjoyed on its own.
Dates are the fruit of the date palm, a tree native to Northern Africa. Botanically the date fruit is a berry. It takes about 200 days from pollination for the date to reach full ripening. One medium-size Deglet Noor date has about 44 calories and almost no fat.
A large portion of the calories in dates food come from sugars. Deglet Noor dates have many nutritional benefits; antioxidants, sodium, cholesterol and fat free, and being nutrient dense both fiber and potassium.
Hababauk is the term used for the female flower
and the period just after pollination when the young fruit is still creamy
white before gradually turning green at the kimri stage.
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| Collecting Deglet Noor Dates |
Stages of the ripening of a Deglet Noor date:
·
Kimri- Early ripening of the date
remaining green
·
Khalal- The date reaches its full
size and changes from green to yellow or red in color depending on the variety
of date. Weight gain is slow but sucrose content increases. At this stage,
dates are still crunchy, like an apple and considered a delicacy.
·
Rutab- Dates decrease in weight due
to moisture loss, a mixture of glucose and fructose, browning of the skin and
softening of the fruit. The moisture content goes down to about 35% and the
dates at this stage are sold as fresh fruit.
·
Tamr- When the dates are left to
ripen further. The most traditional way of producing tamr is sun curing and
drying usually on mats. However, in some areas of Africa such as Tunisia, the
highly sought after Deglet Noor date is cured on the hanging stems remaining
intact with the cluster of dates gives a better result than when the dates are
stripped off then cured on mats.
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| Sweet Date Couscous Dessert Recipe |
Sweet Date Couscous Dessert Recipe
Ingredients
3/4 cup instant
couscous
1/2 cup dried dates,
chopped
1/4 cup toasted
almonds, chopped
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon orange flower water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
Cook couscous according
to package directions toss with remaining ingredients, serve warm as a dessert
or add milk for a warm cereal breakfast.
