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Author Insight
Middle Eastern Dates-nothing better
I must confess i always liked dates. When we lived in Iowa we would get dates from California. They were delicious and seemed so exotic. Decades later when I was in the Middle Eastern countries I found the dates to unbelievably good. They are chilled and the flavor is retained. To my delight, dates are a holy fruit and the Arabs serve them to show hospitality. Some have said the dates from Southern Iraq are the best. And that the Iraqis made more money from their dates than from oil. Who knows. The Saudi dates, (Medjool) were wonderful. When the dates were in season i went to the market and selected my box(you had to buy in bulk) took it home and with the help of plastic bags filled my freezer. I had wonderful dates to eat all year long. yum yum
Book Excerpt
The Bystander
“The love of sweets,” said M. Ishaq, “is part of Bedouin history. In Islamic countries, sweets were a part of the culture, and a tradition. Honey, both a food and a medicine, was part of the culture from the Mediterranean to India. And we have dates.”
“We love dates,” said Ace, almost in unison with Olen.
“Over the centuries cooks from Babylonia, Rome and the Persian Empires created sweets mixed with flours, fruit, and nuts. In the tenth century, the court of the caliphs showed over ninety recipes for sweets. By the sixteen to eighteenth century, sugar was used to sweeten coffee and ice cream and Turkish delights were added. Emigrants took the sweets to cities around the world and baklava became universal.”
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