Dates~ the eating kind

Date palm tree in Abu. They tie them up in mesh bags
 until they are fully ripe and ready~ingenious!

Did you ever wonder how dates grow?? Well, I didn't really but now I know! Living in the middle east is a culinary feast~literally. I already love the shawarma which is a meat, potato spices wrapped in a fattoush or flat bread~deliciouso and warm hummus on warm, chewy bread and now~ I really have a liking for dates.
So here are a few facts about these very sweet, delectable fruits~

A full grown date palm, or Phoenix dactylifera can reach 82 feet (25 meters) in height, with a spreading crown of greenish leaves. The date fruit grows in heavy clusters suspended under the leaves, and they are yellow in the early ripening stage, or kimri, the Arabic word for unripe. Some consumers enjoy date fruit in the next stage, khalal, meaning full sized but crunchy, while others wait for dates to reach rutab, ripe and soft. When the date fruit is allowed to sun dry on the tree, it is considered to be in the final tamr stage of ripening.

At church on Friday (we follow the middle east custom), they were passing around these little golden gems of sweetness in RS~ I wanted to eat more than one but resisted as they are FULL of sugar. They are growing everywhere and if I was brave and maybe wanted to be arrested I would go down to the corniche or the waterfront which is a block away and grab some from the trees that line the walking path. Since I don't want Bob to be sent home this early in the game and to spare him the humiliation of retrieving me from jail, I will buy my dates at the corner market~ they have oodles.