Found at the Farmers Market
From the late summer, dates have been abundant at both the Berkeley and Temescal farmers markets. At the Tuesday Berkeley Market, I especially enjoyed chatting up two palmeros from Indio, near Coachella Valley in SoCal. As I discovered from this Village Profile of Indio, Coachella Valley is the largest date growing region in the nation. Aren't we lucky! Dates grow best in hot, arid environments where there is a lot of groundwater - unfortunately, I think most of the water in SoCal is there by irrigation and water diversion, so maybe not so lucky.The first time I encountered a date farm was while camping in the Furnace Creek Oasis in Death Valley. Apparently, many date trees there have been relocated to make room for a solar power installation. According to the PR, these date trees are not indigenous to Death Valley, but were planted by the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the 1920s. I haven't been able to figure out what kind of dates are grown there, but you can order some , as well as a date cookbook, from the gift shop at the resort.
The two palmeros from Indio described their growing environment as a permaculture farm with a variety of plants growing among the date trees. Sadly, I don't have their farm info, but above is a picture of some of their lovely dates. Front and center on the stalk is a bunch of early-harvest Bahri dates. Bahris hail from Israel and according to my two palmeros, as well as FreshPlaza.com, these dates are unique in that they can be eaten in the early stage as you see in the picture.
At this stage, the date is dry and eating it is similar to eating cane sugar - sweet, fibrous, and chewy. The flavor is a faint maple sugar, but doesn't stick to your teeth or stick around in the mouth. Better than gum! To the left in the picture are two later-stage Bahri dates, which I matured by leaving out on the kitchen counter for two weeks. I later purchased a pound of mature Bahris from the same guys. Mature, these dates are unbelievably delicious. The pulp inside becomes molten - like caramel and just as sweet. I gave one to a friend that doesn't like dates because of the fiber and even she agreed they were great. I feel terribly naughty every time I eat one - like I'm scarfing down a king-sized Snickers. Note: they don't last forever on the counter. I tried hanging onto a few for more than 2 weeks and the last three molded. Recently, I stopped by Zare at FlyTrap (what happened to just FlyTrap? ) for a cheesecake and discovered they had replaced the figs with Bahri dates -- not as good a contrast as a slightly tart fig. It might have helped to squeeze the date flesh cheesecake like drizzled caramel and discard the papery outside. Still, I was glad to see them presented as Bahris and told the waiter about the joys of the early harvest.
Below the mature Bahri on the left in the on the picture is a Medjool date. One Medjool grower, Del Real, shows up regularly at the Temscal market and his dates are true workhorses. By that, I mean that they are plump and a great choice for raw food prep where dates are featured, although most any date works for general sweetening. Dates, along with agave, are the preferred natural sweeteners in raw prep. I wasn't able to order dates from the Del Real website (broken), but I did talk to the farmers market rep and he told me to call them for orders.
To the right of the Bahri bunch are two jujubes, also known as Chinese dates and not to be confused with the gumdrop-like candies. The texture of these is more like a gummy apple than a date. I enjoyed their light sweetness, which pairs well with tea. I left these out until they dried and wrinkled. The flesh under the skin became softer, tending toward a banana, but the taste was old and flat (not just overripe and no sweeter). Eat these fresh or not at all! Better yet, wait for the early-harvest Bahris to return next year.
Interesting things found while researching this article:
mattbites blog mmmmm, I think I'm going to like reading this one
date recipe combines both dates and persimmons, my favorites!
EastBay Express on Oakland Restaurants I hella love eating out in Oakland! While this early 2008 article seems pessimistic, it lists a number of good places I've been to or want to try - and some are getting better all the time like Mua.
enjoy!
