Medjools, the King of Dates

Sweet, plump and creamy,
they come to us from ancient
times, modern techniques.

~carliewired

We were off for a drive to the Imperial Date Gardens just 20 miles from home today. It means crossing the Colorado River to Bard, California. After our stormy weather at the beginning of the weekend, which put a severe damper on the Colorado River Crossing (Hot Air Balloon Festival), the sun came out this morning to encourage a drive.

Medjools grow most happily in this area (California and Arizona). They like hot heads, wet feet and low humidity. Once a delicacy reserved only for royalty, the medjool date is now a favourite. They are the only date that is picked by hand and served fresh. Growing them is a complex, labour-intensive job.

Medjool date palm trees require 10 to 15 years to mature to maximum production. During that time, the grower must perform numerous tasks: pruning, de-thorning, pollinating, thinning, protective bagging, pest prevention and, finally, harvesting - and that's just at the treetop level. On the ground, there's irrigating, tilling, fertilizing....

Although dates have been grown in California since the 18th century (courtesy of Spanish missionaries), the medjool did not arrive in the US until 1927 when an American horticulturalist brought 11 offshoots from Morocco (whose few medjools were dying from disease), thus saving the treasured medjool from extinction. All the medjools that now exist in California and Arizona today, came from those original imports.

The growing areas for medjools in the US are the hottest in the nation. Summer temperatures there average 105 degrees Fahrenheit per day. Harvest begins in this heat during early September. A mature tree can produce as much as 200 pounds of dates. Fruit ripens at different rates on each tree requiring harvesting several times on each tree. Then it's on to sorting, grading and packaging....

There is an abundance of recipes for the revered medjool. I prefer to split a date open, pop out the pit and add in a dollop of peanut butter. It makes a very tasty snack.