Date palm


Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Although its exact place of origin is uncertain because of long cultivation, it probably originated from the Fertile Crescent region straddling between Egypt and Mesopotamia. The species is widely cultivated across Northern Africa, the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and South Asia, and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. P. dactylifera is the type species of genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms, and is the major source of commercial production.
Date trees typically reach about in height, growing singly or forming a clump with several stems from a single root system. Date fruits are oval-cylindrical, long, and about in diameter, ranging from bright red to bright yellow in colour, depending on variety. At about 61-68 percent sugar by mass when dried, dates are a very sweet fruit.
Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in Arabia from the 6th millennium BCE. The total annual world production of dates amounts to 8.5 million metric tons, countries of the Middle East and North Africa being the largest producers.

Etymology

The species name dactylifera "date-bearing" comes from the Greek words daktylos, which means "date", and fero, which means "I bear". The fruit is known as a date. The fruit's English name, as well as the Latin both come from the Greek word for "finger", dáktulos, because of the fruit's elongated shape.

History

Fossil records show that the date palm has existed for at least 50 million years.
Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years. They are believed to have originated around what is now Iraq. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh around 7000 BCE, a Neolithic civilization in what is now western Pakistan, and in eastern Arabia between 5530 and 5320 calBC. and have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt. The ancient Egyptians used the fruits to make date wine, and ate them at harvest. Evidence of cultivation is continually found throughout later civilizations in the Indus Valley, including the Harappan period of 2600 to 1900 BCE. The ancient Hebrews made the fruit into wine, vinegar, bread, and cakes, also using the fruit stones to fatten livestock and the wood to make utensils.
In Ancient Rome the palm fronds used in triumphal processions to symbolize victory were most likely those of Phoenix dactylifera. The date palm was a popular garden plant in Roman peristyle gardens, though it would not bear fruit in the more temperate climate of Italy. It is recognizable in frescoes from Pompeii and elsewhere in Italy, including a garden scene from the House of the Wedding of Alexander.
In later times, traders spread dates around South West Asia, northern Africa, and Spain. Dates were introduced into Mexico and California by the Spaniards in 1765, around Mission San Ignacio.
A date palm cultivar, probably what used to be called Judean date palm, is renowned for its long-lived orthodox seed, which successfully sprouted after accidental storage for 2000 years. The upper survival time limit of properly stored seeds remains unknown.
A genomic study from New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Genomics and Systems Biology showed that domesticated date palm varieties from North Africa, including well-known varieties such as Medjool and Deglet Nour, are a hybrid between Middle East date palms and the Cretan wild palm P. theophrasti. Date palms appear in the archaeological record in North Africa about 2,800 years ago, suggesting that the hybrid was spread by the Minoans or Phoenicians.

Description

Date trees typically reach about in height, growing singly or forming a clump with several stems from a single root system. The leaves are long, with spines on the petiole, and pinnate, with about 150 leaflets. The leaflets are long and wide. The full span of the crown ranges from.
The date palm is dioecious, having separate male and female plants. They can be easily grown from seed, but only 50% of seedlings will be female and hence fruit bearing, and dates from seedling plants are often smaller and of poorer quality. Most commercial plantations thus use cuttings of heavily cropping cultivars. Plants grown from cuttings will fruit 2–3 years earlier than seedling plants.
Dates are naturally wind pollinated, but in both traditional oasis horticulture and in the modern commercial orchards they are entirely pollinated manually. Natural pollination occurs with about an equal number of male and female plants. However, with assistance, one male can pollinate up to 100 females. Since the males are of value only as pollinators, 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 labourers on ladders, or by use of a wind machine. In some areas such as Iraq the pollinator climbs the tree using a special climbing tool that wraps around the tree trunk and the climber's back to keep him attached to the trunk while climbing.
Date fruits are oval-cylindrical, long, and diameter, and when ripe, range from bright red to bright yellow in colour, depending on variety. Dates contain a single stone about long and thick. Three main cultivar groups of date exist: soft ; semi-dry, and dry. The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose, and sucrose content.

Genome

In 2009, a team of researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar published a draft version of the date palm genome. The draft genome sequence was improved in 2019 with the release of a more complete genome sequence using small molecule real-time sequencing technology by a team from the New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Genomics and Systems Biology and the UAE University Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in the United Arab Emirates. With the release of this improved genome assembly, the UAE researchers were able to map genes for fruit color and sugar content. The NYU Abu Dhabi researchers had also re-sequenced the genomes of several date varieties to develop the first single nucleotide polymorphism map of the date palm genome in 2015.

Cultivation

Dates are an important traditional crop in Iraq, Iran, Arabia, and north Africa west to Morocco. Dates are also cultivated in America in southern California, Arizona and southern Florida in the United States and in Sonora and Baja California in Mexico.
Date palms can take 4 to 8 years after planting before they will bear fruit, and start producing viable yields for commercial harvest between 7 and 10 years. Mature date palms can produce of dates per harvest season. They do not all ripen at the same time so several harvests are required. To obtain fruit of marketable quality, the bunches of dates must be thinned and bagged or covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits grow larger and are protected from weather and animals, such as birds, that also like to eat them.
Date palms require well-drained deep sandy loam soils with a pH of 8-11. The soil should have the ability to hold the moisture. The soil should also be free from calcium carbonate.

Production

Cultivars

A large number of date cultivars are grown. The most important are:
The Gaza Strip, especially Deir al-Balah, is known for its exceptionally sweet red dates.
EnglishArabicEnglishArabicEnglishArabicEnglishArabic
AfandiأفنديJebailyجبيليMedjoulمدجولSawaidaسويدا
AjwahعجوةKa'ikahكعيكهMenaifyمنيفيShahelشهل
AnbarahعنبرةKhalasخلاصMeskanyمسكانيShalaabyشلابي
AseelأصيلKhastawiخستاويMishriqمشرقSayirصاير
BaiḍبيضKhudryخضريMushukahمشوكةShuqryشقري
BarnyبرنيKhuḍabخصابRabiyyahربيعةSufryصفري
BerḥiبرحيLunahلونةRashudiahرشوديهSukkaryسكري
GharrغرLubanahلبانةSafaawyصفاويSuqa'eyصقعي
ḤelwahحلوةMabrumمبرومSheesheeشيشيWananahونانة
ḤilyaحليةMaktoomiمكتوميSariyyahساريةDhawyذاوي
KhunayzeyخنيزيUm Ruhaimام رحيمHilaliهلاليNabtat Sultanنبتة سلطان

Diseases and pests

A major palm pest, the red palm beetle currently poses a significant threat to date production in parts of the Middle East as well as to iconic landscape specimens throughout the Mediterranean world.
In the 1920s, eleven healthy Madjool palms were transferred from Morocco to the United States where they were tended by members of the Chemehuevi tribe in a remote region of Nevada. Nine of these survived and in 1935, cultivars were transferred to the "U.S. Date Garden" in Indio, California. Eventually this stock was reintroduced to Africa and led to the U.S. production of dates in Yuma, Arizona, and the Bard Valley in California.

Invasive species

Not all cities and countries have benefited with the date palms resilience and ease of growth. It has made the invasive species list in some parts of the United States, Canada and Australia.

Uses

Fruits

Dry or soft dates are eaten out-of-hand, or may be pitted and stuffed with fillings such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, candied orange and lemon peel, tahini, marzipan or cream cheese. Pitted dates are also referred to as stoned dates. Partially dried pitted dates may be glazed with glucose syrup for use as a snack food. Dates can also be chopped and used in a range of sweet and savory dishes, from tajines in Morocco to puddings, ka'ak and other dessert items. Date nut bread, a type of cake, is very popular in the United States, especially around holidays. Dates are also processed into cubes, paste called 'ajwa, spread, date syrup or "honey" called "dibs" or rub in Libya, powder, vinegar or alcohol. Vinegar made from dates was a traditional product of the Middle East. Recent innovations include chocolate-covered dates and products such as sparkling date juice, used in some Islamic countries as a non-alcoholic version of champagne, for special occasions and religious times such as Ramadan. When Muslims break fast in the evening meal of Ramadan, it is traditional to eat a date first.
Reflecting the maritime trading heritage of Britain, imported chopped dates are added to, or form the main basis of a variety of traditional dessert recipes including sticky toffee pudding, Christmas pudding and date and walnut loaf. They are particularly available to eat whole at Christmas time. Dates are one of the ingredients of HP Sauce, a popular British condiment.
Dates can also be dehydrated, ground and mixed with grain to form a nutritious stockfeed.
In Southeast Spain dates are served wrapped in bacon and shallow fried, served with ranch dressing.
In Israel date syrup, termed silan, is used while cooking chicken and also for sweets and desserts, and as a honey substitute.
Dates are one of the ingredients of jallab, a Middle-Eastern fruit syrup.
In Pakistan, a viscous, thick syrup made from the ripe fruits is used as a coating for leather bags and pipes to prevent leaking.

Date forks

In the past, sticky dates were served using specialized small forks having two metal tines, called :nb:Gaffel#Gaffeltyper|daddelgaffel in Scandinavia. Some designs were patented. These have generally been replaced by an inexpensive pale-colored knobbled plastic fork that resembles a date branch, which is traditionally included with numerous brands of prepackaged trays of dates, though this practice has declined in response to increased use of resealable packaging and calls for fewer single-use plastics.

Nutritional value

Dates provide a wide range of essential nutrients, and are a very good source of dietary potassium. The sugar content of ripe dates is about 80%; the remainder consists of protein, fiber, and trace elements including boron, cobalt, copper, fluorine, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and zinc. The glycemic index for three different varieties of dates are 35.5, 49.7, and 30.5.
The caffeic acid glycoside 3-O-caffeoylshikimic acid and its isomers, are enzymic browning substrates found in dates.

Other parts

Seeds

Date seeds are soaked and ground up for animal feed. Their oil is suitable for use in cosmetics and dermatological applications. The oil contains lauric acid and oleic acid. Date palm seeds contain 0.56–5.4% lauric acid. They can also be processed chemically as a source of oxalic acid. Date seeds are also ground and used in the manner of coffee beans, or as an additive to coffee.
Experimental studies have shown that feeding mice with the aqueous extract of date pits exhibit anti-genotoxic and reduce DNA damage induced by N-nitroso-N-methylurea.

Fruit clusters

Stripped fruit clusters are used as brooms. Recently the floral stalks have been found to be of ornamental value in households.

Sap

Apart from P. dactylifera, wild date palms such as Phoenix sylvestris and Phoenix reclinata, depending on the region, can be also tapped for sap.

Leaves

Date palm leaves are used for Palm Sunday in the Christian religion. In North Africa, they are commonly used for making huts. Mature leaves are also made into mats, screens, baskets and fans. Processed leaves can be used for insulating board. Dried leaf petioles are a source of cellulose pulp, used for walking sticks, brooms, fishing floats and fuel. Leaf sheaths are prized for their scent, and fibre from them is also used for rope, coarse cloth, and large hats. The leaves are also used as a lulav in the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Young date leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable, as is the terminal bud or heart, though its removal kills the palm. The finely ground seeds are mixed with flour to make bread in times of scarcity. The flowers of the date palm are also edible. Traditionally the female flowers are the most available for sale and weigh. The flower buds are used in salad or ground with dried fish to make a condiment for bread.

Culture

Dates are mentioned more than 50 times in the Bible and 20 times in the Qur'an.
Many Jewish scholars believe that the "honey" reference in the Bible to "a land flowing with milk and honey" is actually a reference to date "honey", and not honey from bees.
In Islamic culture, dates and yogurt or milk are traditionally the first foods consumed for Iftar after the sun has set during Ramadan.

Symbolism

In the Quran, Allah instructs Maryām to eat dates when she gives birth to Isa ; and, similarly, they are recommended to pregnant women.
Phoenix dactylifera held great significance in early Judaism and subsequently in Christianity, in part because the tree was heavily cultivated as a food source in ancient Palestine.
In the Bible palm trees are referenced as symbols of prosperity and triumph. In Psalm 92:12 "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree". Palm branches occurred as iconography in sculpture ornamenting the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, on Jewish coins, and in the sculpture of synagogues. They are also used as ornamentation in the Feast of the Tabernacles. Palm branches were scattered before Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

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