The fruit is known as
a date. The fruit's English name (through Old French), as well as the Latin
species name dactylifera, both come from the Greek word for "finger",
dáktulos, because of the fruit's elongated shape. Dates are oval-cylindrical,
3–7 cm long, and 2–3 cm diameter, and when ripe, range from bright red to
bright yellow in colour, depending on variety. Dates contain a single stone
about 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) long and 6–8 mm thick. Three main cultivar groups
of date exist: soft, semi-dry. The type of fruit depends on the glucose,
fructose and sucrose content. Dates ripen in four stages, which are known
throughout the world by their Arabic names kimri, khlal, rutab (ripe, soft),
tamr.
Dates are an
important traditional crop in Iraq, Arabia, and north Africa west to Morocco.
Dates are also mentioned more than 50 times in the Bible and 20 times in the
Qur'an. In Islamic culture, dates and yogurt or milk are traditionally the
first foods consumed for Iftar after the sun has set during Ramadan. Dates are also cultivated in America in southern
California, Arizona and southern Florida in the United States and in Sonora and
Baja California in Mexico.Date palms can take 4
to 8 years after planting before they will bear fruit, and produce viable
yields for commercial harvest between 7 to 10 years. Mature date palms can produce
68 to 176 kilograms to 300 of dates per harvest season, although they do not
all ripen at the same time so several harvests are required. In order to get
fruit of marketable quality, the bunches of dates must be thinned and bagged or
covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits grow larger and are
protected from weather and pests such as birds.
Dates are naturally
wind pollinated but in both traditional oasis horticulture and in the modern
commercial orchards they are entirely pollinated manually. Natural pollination
occurs with about an equal number of male and female plants. However, with
assistance, one male can pollinate up to 100 females. Since the males are of
value only as pollinators, this allows the growers to use their resources for
many more fruit producing female plants. Some growers do not even maintain any
male plants as male flowers become available at local markets at pollination
time.
Manual pollination is done by skilled labourers on ladders. In some areas
such as Iraq the pollinator climbs the tree using a special climbing tool that
wraps around the tree trunk and the climber's back to keep him attached to the
trunk while climbing. Less often the pollen may be blown onto the female
flowers by a wind machine. There is also archeological evidence of date
cultivation in Mehrgarh around 7000 BCE, a Neolithic civilization in what is
now western Pakistan. Evidence of cultivation is continually found throughout
later civilizations in the Indus Valley, including the Harappan period 2600 to
1900 BCE. In later times,
traders spread dates around South West Asia, northern Africa, and Spain. Dates
were introduced into Mexico and California by the Spaniards in 1765, around
Mission San Ignacio.
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