Medjool date

Datte Medjool

What it is

In 1927 the botanist Walter Swingle carried eleven offshoots out of Boudenib in Morocco, where bayoud disease was killing the palms; nine survived a nine-year quarantine on the Colorado River before being planted out in California. Almost every Medjool sold in the West descends from those nine.

In the kitchen

For a purée, steep the pitted dates ten minutes in just-boiled water and blend with the soaking water; added dry they seize into fibrous threads. If they have gone hard and sugary, five seconds of steam brings the fudge texture back.

Goes with

Tahini Almond Goat cheese Orange blossom water Cardamom Coffee Butter

Same species

Date Date paste Date syrup (silan) Deglet Nour date Date palm jaggery

Also used with

Edible silver leaf Rooibos Malmsey Madeira

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