Dates

📖 In short

The date is the sweet fruit of the date palm, one of the most important foods for Arabs for thousands of years. It's full of energy, easy to digest and keeps for a long time. Muslims break their fast in Ramadan with dates, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

🤩 Did you know?

Saudi Arabia has more than 300 kinds of dates.
In its life a date palm produces 10 to 15 offshoots on average.
An offshoot is a small palm that grows beside its mother, which farmers replant.
A date palm needs hot sun and enough water at its roots.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 How dates ripen

A date goes through stages: it starts small and green, then grows and is called “khalal”, then turns yellow or red and crunchy, called “busr”, then softens into “rutab”, and finally dries and becomes a date.

🔍 Many kinds

There are hundreds of kinds of dates, including sukkari, khalas, ajwa, barhi, medjool and deglet nour. Each kind has a different color, taste and texture.

💡 The generous palm

The date palm is a blessed tree and nothing is wasted: we eat its dates, make mats, baskets and fans from its fronds, roofs from its trunks and rope from its fibers.