Thursday, February 28, 2019

Delicious Dates

Have you ever started eating a food and think, "where has this been all my life?". This is how I currently feel about dates. I've liked dates before, but they weren't something I bought often. I used to use date sugar, but now we rarely use sugar so even that is infrequent. Then I watched this Dr. Greger  video.

I started buying organic prunes years ago because they sell them in bulk at my local co-op. I take a glass jar and fill it with prunes since they make a great snack. Our co-op doesn't sell dates in bulk so I wouldn't buy them often. They tend to be pretty expensive. After seeing this video, I decided to get off my butt and find a way to buy dates in bulk. I found Oasis Date Gardens and got my first delivery of 10 lbs of Halawy dates. I picked the Halawy variety because they were organic and on sale. They come in a big 10 lb box and I store them in large gallon size glass jars. I couldn't be happier! This variety of dates tastes very caramel like to me and really satisfies any craving for sweet without the sugar crash and I'm adding an easy source of fiber and antioxidants. My eldest likes to put a Brazil nut in the date where the pit used to be. So delicious!

Dema, my fourteen year old son, still prefers prunes to dates, which is interesting to me, but I think it is a texture thing. The Halawy dates are very sticky and they didn't come pitted. I'm sure he'll come around eventually or I'll just start adding them to smoothies. I also want to try making my own oat milk at home and I'll probably sweeten some with dates. Does anyone have a date variety they love?