Dates Phoenix dactylifera The date has grown abundantly in the ‘Fertile Crescent’ in North Africa and Middle East since prehistoric times and was to become a staple for the peoples of the region. Cultivation goes back to at least 3,000BC and, without the date palm, the Bedouin of North Africa could not exist. The fruit, eaten with bread and camel milk forms the basis of their diet; the scooped out trunks are used for irrigation; the palm fronds for building enclosures and fuel; the leaflets for making mats and baskets; the fibre for wadding and mattress stuffing; the sap for wine-making. Use of the date palm was recorded on Assyrian and Babylonian monuments and in their texts, and in the text of Shu-Sin, dated at around 2,050BC, 3rd Dynasty of Ur, there is a mention of large date plantation. Date stones have been found at excavations in Northwest India, which have been estimated to have been from around 2,500BC. The Ancient Egyptians used them fresh, fried or pressed and formed into cakes. The Romans, too, were extremely fond of dates, which they used as a sweetener, stuffed as ‘sweetmeats’, and made into pastes and sauces to accompany meats and fish. Dates had reached China by the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), taken by traders from Persia. As a basic food of the region, the date is mentioned a lot in the Bible and the Koran credits the date with having sustained Mary throughout her labour when she delivered Christ. The date palm is extremely hardy, being able to grow in sandy soil at temperatures in excess of 50ºC. It is a very reliable producer, the female trees first coming to fruit when four years old and able to continue for 70 years or more, growing to heights of around 30m (100ft), although producers tend to cut down trees when they exceed the 15m (50ft) mark and reaching the fruit, which grows at the very top, becomes difficult. The fruits are oval, grooved and yellow in colour, and hang down between the fronds in bunches of around 40, each strand bearing some 30 dates. With 4-5 bunches ripening at a time, and average yield for a tree is around 50kg (100lb) fruit per annum, although a good tree can produce two or even three times that amount. Ayurveda classifies the date as being sweet; an energy giving food which is mildly laxative and which is said to encourage sperm production. A large proportion of the harvest is allowed to ripen to the tamer stage, and sometimes sun-dried before being packed and shipped. Traditional uses are as a hand-held fruit, date syrup, dibbs, which is used in making date bread, legaimat (doughnut cake) and mahmer (sweet rice). The dates are also processed to make preserves and the countries of origin are continually researching to find new food products. One such is a weaning food called tamrina which has been developed in Iraq. Nutritionally, 100g of dates gives 270 kcalories energy and contain protein, fats, carbohydrates in the form of sugar, fibre, calcium, iron, sodium, vitamin A and vitamin B1 (thiamin)