The Date Palm

The date palm is the oldest tree still living, it has been known from remotest antiquity and extensive fossil records extend back 80 million years to the late Cretaceous period.  It is thought that the date palm was first cultivated in lands around the Persian Gulf over 6000 years ago and evidence has been found in Neolithic sites in Egypt and Syria.


The “Fertile Crescent”, the land north of the Arabian Desert and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, is the region where settled farming first emerged and people began clearing the land and developing the local vegetation.

One of the oldest palm artifacts found is a seal from a jar found at the Saqqara necropolis in Giza, Egypt.  Made from plaited palm leaves, it is approximately 2,100 years old.    DNA extracted from it shows a very similar genetic code to the modern North African date palm.  It also has generic definition similar to the wild Cretan Palm found in Crete and Turkey and the Sugar Palm found in Bangladesh, South East India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Western Himalayas, suggesting hybridisation  had already occurred 2100 years ago.


The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grows about 75feet tall and terminates in a crown of graceful leaves about 16feet long.  The floral spikes branch from axils of the previous years leaves, male and female flowers growing on different trees so in cultivation they are artificially pollinated.  Palms bear fruit from 4 to 5 years old and when mature at 10 to 15 years  can yield 90 to 180 pounds of dates per annum, depending on the variety and culture, bunches can contain 1000 individual fruit!  They can live to 150 years but their productivity declines and in commercial culture they are replaced after about 40 years.

The date palm is a very useful tree, as well as fruit it yields other products of commercial value: timber from the trunk, crates and furniture from the mid-ribs of the leaves, baskets from the leaflets, the fruit stalks make fibre for cordage and packing and the seeds are ground and used as stock feed. Dates are made into syrup, alcohol, vinegar and strong liquor.  They contain 61-68% sugar, the Egyptian name for date is “bnr” which also means “sweet”.   Dates have a long shelf life and throughout the Middle East and Europe are used as snack foods and in many sweet and savoury dishes, for example tajines in Morocco, paste, cubes and spread in Libya, sticky toffee pudding in Britain and Gran’s date squares here at home!

The world production of dates is 9 million tonnes per annum, led by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Algeria who produce 60% of the world’s dates.  Egypt is developing the world’s largest date plantation in Toshka in Southern Egypt.  It covers 40,000 acres and has 2.5 million trees.  

During excavations at the fortified hill of Masada, in Israel, a cache of seeds were found in a 2000 year old sealed jar.  In 2005 researchers gained permission to plant one seed in a pot. It has grown into a seedling and in 2011 it produced it’s first flowers.  It has been named “Methuselah”.



The date palm has an important place in both Christianity and Islam.  In Christianity Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus entering Jerusalem when palms were laid in front of him.  In Islam dates play an important part in Ramadan, it is customary to eat 3 dates to break fast.  The Quran states that Muhammad broke his fast this way, it also tells that there are many palm trees in Paradise.

 


Comments

  1. JeanieOctober 31, 2022 at 3:55 PM

    I like dates. Hopefully i'll get some in Paradise :)

    ReplyDelete

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