What Can You Do with Dates?

For a lot of us Westerners, dates are a mysterious fruit. We have questions like, “what are the health benefits of dates?” “Are dates fattening?” And, most of all, “what can you do with a date?” How do you even use them?

So let’s talk about dates: what they are, why to eat them, and how to eat them. And at the end, I’ve rounded up some recipes so you can give them a try.

What Are Dates?

Dates are a fruit. They grow on date palm trees in giant clusters that resemble enormous bundles of pollen.

date palm (by Simon via Pixabay) — Image by Simon Steinberger from Pixabay

There are different varieties of dates, just as there are different varieties of apples, and — as with apples — they have fundamental similarities but also some differences that make some better-suited than others to particular uses.

According to Epicurious,

Medjool dates are large and most often used in cooking and baking. They’re moist and sweet, with skin that can range from brown to nearly black.

The amber-colored Deglet Noor is drier, firmer, and more elongated, with a slight nutty flavor. It holds its texture well when cooked. Dates that are sold pitted and/or dried are usually Deglets, says Fish.

The round Barhi date is by far the sweetest and softest, strictly for eating out of hand. It’s a rare find outside of California because it’s too fragile to ship.

(These are the most common varieties you’ll find commercially.) I’m able to get both medjool and deglet noor dates where I am, and agree with the Epicurious description. We aren’t crazy about the deglet noor. They have almost a more “crystallized” mouth feel, are more fibrous overall, and just don’t taste as nice. But it does make sense they would work better in certain cooked recipes.

Medjool dates have more of a “melt in your mouth” quality, and are very sweet, like nature’s candy.

To give you a better idea of the size, I took a photo with a ruler, too.

As you can see, the medjools are a bit larger overall, and also just plumper. This seems to be a matter of density — the deglet noors seem to feel “packed tight” inside, while the medjools are not.

A slight bit of the difference is accounted for by the fact that the medjools shown here have pits but the deglet noors do not. It’s not that much difference, though, because the pits aren’t huge.

This pit is roughly the size of half of a pecan half.

The leaves of the date palm are traditionally used in the lulav for Sukkot, and as the “palm branches” waved on Palm Sunday.

Health Benefits of Dates

There is a moderate amount of iron in dates, which is, oddly, one of the primary health benefits they seem to be known for. (Although the best sources of iron are animal sources, because that iron is a different, more absorbable form.)

They’re also high in B vitamins (good for using that iron!), potassium, and a number of other minerals. They have plenty of fiber. And for being so sweet, they have a fairly low glycemic index (GI) value (60).

(For comparison, a tablespoon of molasses has 0.944 mg of iron.)

Uses for Dates

In locations where dates are actually grown, they’re used in a variety of forms, and there are methods for making use of every part of the fruit — including the pits.

The fruit itself is made into date sugar, date paste, date syrup, and date vinegar.

The pits/seeds are ground into flour or orasated and used as a date coffee/coffee substitute.

Even the flowers are edible, although if you live someplace dates have to be shipped to, you probably don’t have access to those.

If you want to try your hand at any of these things, give these recipes a try:

date sugar
(more about) date sugar
date sugar (again)
date paste
date syrup
how to make “real” date syrup
how to make “raw date syrup”
traditional Middle Eastern date vinegar
date pit “coffee”
ground seeds for flour (pdf – not native English) This paper is about making flour commercially, and I personally wouldn’t go through all those steps to make date pit flour at home. I would clean and grind the seeds — and use the flour — much like nut flours such as almond flour or acorn flour.

If you’re looking for dates in one of these forms, and don’t want to make it yourself, you can buy most of them.

Anna and Sarah Fancy Medjool Dates 5 Lbs in Resealable Bag (with Pits) NUTS U.S. – Deglet Noor Pitted Dates In Resealable Bag (2 lbs) Medjool Dates (1.1 Pounds) Date Lady Organic Date Paste (2.2 lbs) Date Lady Date Sugar – 16 Ounces Date Lady Organic Date Syrup 18 oz Squeeze Bottle D’vash Organic Date Nectar, 16.6 oz (source: California) Medidate Coffee, Made purely from date seeds (12 oz) Cassandra Rectangle Gift Box with Gourmet Filled Dates (36 Pieces)

Date Recipes

If you’re looking for uses for the actual fruit, here are some recipes that use dates in a variety of ways. (Recipe images belong to their respective authors, and are used with permission. Please respect their work by pinning my post images, not their recipe images, when pinning from this post.)

Apple Cinnamon Smoothie from The Recipe Well

Apple Cinnamon Smoothie from The Recipe Well
Palm Springs Date Shake from Off the (Meat)Hook
Chocolate Tahini Smoothie from Paleo Gluten Free Guy
Fig Smoothie with Dates & Almond Butter from Piping Pot Curry
Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl from Sustain My Cooking Habit

Cocoa Toffee Cheesecake from Any Reason Vegans

Cocoa Toffee Cheesecake from Any Reason Vegans
Gluten-Free Jelly Cake from Mind, Body, and Spirit Well-Being
Raw Raspberry Cups from A Baking Journey
Healthy Pumpkin Pie Bars from Kathryn’s Kitchen Blog
Date Squares from The Delicious Spoon (Where many pies and pie-like recipes use the dates as part of the crust, in this recipe the dates are the main ingredient in the filling.)
Mango Coconut Panna Cotta from A Taste for Travel
Beetroot Chocolate Date Mousse Parfait from Just Beet It

Easy Chocolate Turtles from Detoxinista (Our friend Heather makes these regularly, and they’re delicious! She says, “I prefer to toast my pecans so they have a little crunch to them and I just use the regular bag from Costco. If the dates are on the dry side, it doesn’t hurt to soak them a little hot water.”)
Date Caramels from Empowered Sustenance
Sea Salt Caramels from Sheri Silver
Chocolate Caramel Truffles from Pink Fortitude
Paleo Snickers Dates from Cook at Home Mom
Chocolate Date Pralines from Francine’s Place
Chocolate-Covered Coconut-Stuffed Dates from Gourmande in the Kitchen
Chocolate-Filled Strawberries from A Sweet Alternative (The chocolate filling is sweetened with dates, and could be used for other purposes, as well.)
Chocolate Freezer Fudge from Amanda’s Cookin’
Vegan Chocolate Fudge from Happy Kitchen
Chocolate Hazelnut Bars from Chisel and Fork
Healthy Snickers Ice Cream Bites from Rhian’s Recipes