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Recorded on February 27, 2009 at 8e. Honey Medjool Date Palm.
Posts Tagged ‘Medjool’
honey medjool date palm located at 8e
January 28th, 2010 
Jeff 
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honey medjool date palm
January 20th, 2010 Jeff
February 27, 2009 video of 8e holding yard honey medjool date palms.
honey medjool date palm located at Mesa Date
December 12th, 2009 Jeff
Recorded on February 27, 2009 at Mesa Date. Honey Date Medjool palm
Power Fruits – Medjool Dates the Kings of Dates
November 4th, 2009 Jeff Medjool Dates The King of Dates
Dates are considered the oldest cultivated fruit. There are Fossils that show date palm trees thriving 50 million years ago. The Date Palm Tree fruit was eaten as far back as 5,000-6,000 B.C., and they have been cultivated for about 6,000 years in the Middle East. http://www.medjool-dates.com/medjool_dates_history.php
The Biblical reference to the tree of life may very well have meant the date palm tree. So the tree life may not be a tree at all, but a date palm. In ancient cultures date palm was called the tree of life and all parts of the date palm tree were used including the trunk, the leaves, and the fruit. In ancient cultures and to a lesser extent today, dates were a staple food. from the trunk to the leaves. Dates are rich in carbohydrates and potassium and can be stored for several years. There are hundreds of varieties of dates. About 12 varieties are grown in the United States. Dates are classified into various categories including soft, semidry or dry. There are soft dates such as the Medjool, Khadrawy, Halawy and Barhi which have a sweet, creamy flesh. Semidry dates such as Deglet Noor and Zahidi have less moisture, sweetness and chewiness. There are more dry dates such as the Thoory, which is called the bread date, and it has a hard, dry skin and very little moisture.
Among the peoples of the middle east dates are still used as a staple food and there are millions of trees in the middle east. It is still a very important food and is widely grown in all the middle eastern countries, especially in the Euphrates Tigris Delta. About 95 percent of dates are grown in California’s Coachella Valley otherwise know as Palm Springs. Dates grow well in this area because of they dry heat.
Dates were first brought to California by the Spanish missionaries and around 1927, the Medjool date arrived. The reason was that disease was destroying Morocco’s Medjool crop and it was an attempt to save the date. Eleven offshoots were brought back to California from Morocco and nine of the eleven survived and have become the source of the millions of Medjool dates grown today throughout California and a parts of Arizona.
The Medjool date is considered the king of dates. The Medjool was once reserved for Moroccan royalty and their guests, they were a precious confection and to some extent remain so. Medjools are more expensive than other varieties because their cultivation is more complex and labor intensive. Date palms pollinate naturally by produce few dates and growers therefore hand-pollinate each tree to ensure adequate yield. Green dates are removed to encourage larger dates to grown and then they are covered to protect them from protect them from birds, insects and occasional rain. Dates are then hand picked one at a time as they ripen.
In California these dates come into season in September and go to about November or December. They are not normally harvested past December, but store well and can be frozen. Medjools can be stored in an air-tight container for about six months in the refrigerator. Prices range from $6 to $10 per pound, depending on their size and quality. Dates are graded according the quality as choice, soft, fancy, large and jumbo. In this case bigger is better.
Medjool dates are used primarily as a gourmet dessert. They are very sweet and are often used in gourmet cooking because of their properties and sweetness. Medjool dates are excellent fruit for athletes because of the very high content of carbohydrates and potassium. It is a runners dream when it comes to carbohydrates. Medjool dates have also been linked with decreased cancer rates. The fiber content for dates is also high and therefore an advantage over other fruits that lack fiber.
Buy quality California Grown Medjool Dates in bulk here: Medjool dates, California Fruit, Date palms
Brief History Of The Medjool Date The Natural Dessert
October 31st, 2009 Jeff The word “date” entered the English language about the same time as Marco Polo’s travels. The Moors brought dates to Alicante in Spain from North Africa and the fruit continues to grow in Alicante. The quality of the dates grown in Spain is not very good, but even so the dates have a significant impact on the economy of Alicante.
The Spanish carried Date Palm Seedlings and seed to American and attempted to develop a date colony in Cuba in 1513. The first attempt in Cuba failed as the Spanish were attacked by the hostile Indians. The second attempt succeeded, but because of the rain the quality of the dates was very poor and eventually all the date palms were taken out.
The Spanish then left a trail of date palms as they made their way through Mexico up to California. The dates did well in some parts of Mexico, but they never took. The Spanish Friars established missions in California and planted palms along their route in the late 1700’s but few of these date palms yielded fruit. Eventually these seeds made their way to the interior of California. Around 1850 the dates in the central part of California succeeded and the interest in date cultivation increased in the United States.
Around 1912 date pioneers brought Algerian stock plants to California and planted them in Mecca in the Coachella Valley of California. He then made a trip where he brought back about 3,000 date palms, but could not sell them in California so he planted them in Arizona. Another company set up a farm in Mecca and brought back about 14,000 shoots from Iraq and Algeria and planted them in Mecca. Almost all these plants were successful and today the date palm continues to thrive today in hot climate communities of the Coachella Valley including Mecca, Thermal, Coachella and Indio.
The first dates grown in the Coachella Valley are the Deglet Noor and the Medjool Date the King of Dates. The Medjool date is not grown in the large quantities that the Deglet Noor is grown, because it is much more labor intensive and because it is a soft date. The Medjool Date is more of a dessert date, because of its sweetness and is not consumed every day in the Middle East and North Africa.
At one time the Medjool Date was reserved for royalty and their friends and family. The Medjool Date made its way to the United States through the agriculture department after a disease was destroying all the date palm orchards. Shoots were brought back to the United States in an effort to save the Medjool Date from extinction.
The techniques for growing dates are similarly in many places and provide for multi crop farming. In Oman the date palm shades other trees such as citrus or nuts and then the citrus provides shade for sweet potatoes, squash and lentils. The date palm is know as the tree of life and is probably the same tree of life mentioned in the Bible. The date palm is probably known as the tree of life, because nothing is wasted and for many years was the basis of life in the Middle East. The date palm produces the fruit to eat and from the fruit, seeds and the tree itself other products are derived. The leaves and the trunk are used for construction of homes and to fuel fires. The date palm is used to make hats, ropes, mats, tools, cattle feed, and even landfill.
In many places dates are still picked by hand in some places machines are used to shake the trees and cause the date to fall. In most places dates are sold locally, but in the United States dates are sold throughout the country.
Dates are very nutritious and have supported life in the Middle East. Generally grains are credited with giving rise to civilization, but it is almost certain that Western Civilization would not have evolved if it had not been for the date which was a very important food source and to the economies of ancient civilizations including Babylonia.
Dates are not very well known in the United States, but many athletes that discover the date discover the benefits of eating dates. Not only are dates sweet and tasty but also contain very high concentrations of carbohydrates, potassium, and magnesium. The content of the date strongly suggests that they may be good to prevent cancer and this is supported by the low cancer rates of populations where the date is eaten regularly and the low cancer rates.
Buy Fresh California Grown Medjool Dates at: California Medjool Dates, Date Palm, Fruit