Medjool Dates Fruit & Medjool Date Palm Trees » date fruit http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog Medjool Dates, Dates Dried Fruit, Dried Fruit, Fresh Fruit, Nutrition Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:19:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The Date Fruit In The United Arab Emirates http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/2011/09/03/the-date-fruit-in-the-united-arab-emirates/ http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/2011/09/03/the-date-fruit-in-the-united-arab-emirates/#comments Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:34:04 +0000 Pina http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/?p=327 Today dates continue to be a staple food of the desert in the Middle East.  The UAE has increased production significantly by subsidizing the various things that go into the production of dates and date palms; by making low cost financing available; by requiring all farmers to plant more dates, in fact there are requirements that all farmers must have 200 date and to sell the product to specific markets; and also by encouraging policies that help market and price dates on the basis of varieties and grades.

Dates are graded according to the amount of moisture and sweetness.  Dry dates ten to have moisture in the range of about 8-10%.  Semidry dates have moisture content in the 11-16% range and soft dates have moisture content of 17-22%.  Most of the dates in the UAE are of the soft type of dates.  About 26 varieties are commercial varieties, but many more are grown in the UAE.

The date industry continues to be an important part of the economies of most Middle Eastern countries.  Dates are also an integral part of culture and custom in the Middle East.  The UAE has the highest per capita consumption of dates in the world.  The date fruit can be stored for more than 2 years.  Making it an important food in a world where our population is growing extremely fast.  In the UAE the harvesting season starts in the summer and could go to about October.  Farmers typically pick dates on a daily basis and sell them at wholesale markets.  This contrasts with the harvest season in the Coachella Valley where the date festival is held in winter after the harvest which takes place in early fall.  Many of the farmers growing dates also feed dates to their livestock.  The date fruit bed to the livestock is at the tamar stage.  This is in addition to other food fed to the live stock.
The period of highest demand for date fruit is the same worldwide it is during the month of Ramada, during the Eid Al-Fitr and at the end of the month of Al-Adha.

GHTime Code(s): nc nc  ]]> http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/2011/09/03/the-date-fruit-in-the-united-arab-emirates/feed/ 0 A Little Info About The Medjool Date http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/2011/08/29/a-little-info-about-the-medjool-date/ http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/2011/08/29/a-little-info-about-the-medjool-date/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:27:41 +0000 Pina http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/?p=317 Dates fruits are grown on date palm trees. The Cultivation of the date fruit as a food is believed to have started in the Middle East approximately 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. Many types of dates are an essential part of Middle Eastern cuisine, but perhaps none are as prized as much as the medjool date which is considered the King of dates.

Medjool dates have been called many names the “king of dates” and also the “crown jewel of dates.” Like most dates, the fruit is needs to ripen,  prior to being eaten. What really makes these dried fruit  so special is that they are exceptionally large, contain a large amount of “fruit meat,” and are extremely sweet. In fact the medjool date is known as nature’s candy.  The  center of the medjool date has an elongated pit, which is easy to remove.

The medjool date is very sweet, but contains about 66 calories per date. They are an excellent source of potassium, magnesium, copper and manganese. They do have a significant amount of fruit sugar, but this is a much healthier sugar than processed sugar.  The medjool date makes for a perfect alternative to other forms of dessert.

GHTime Code(s): nc  ]]> http://www.medjool-dates.com/blog/2011/08/29/a-little-info-about-the-medjool-date/feed/ 0