Dates, from the Date Palm tree figure highly in Middle Eastern cooking. The trees are ancient symbols of life, abundance and endurance, as well.
The lush date palm groves of a dessert oasis, they say, came about from the endless trade caravans (whose primary food source on their treks across the dessert were dates) tossing the pits aside at their rest stops at the traditional watering holes. In time, the pits grew into erect date palms, sustained by the few sources of water on the barren plains, and - in turn - sustained future travelers with their fruit and shade.
For thousands of years, date palms have been a source of food and folklore; a basic symbol of the sacred Tree of Life in Egypt and many other parts of the Middle East, partly because it often produces a new branch every month and, partly, because it is such a basic food in the dessert, where little else will grow.
After their exodus from Egypt, the date palm frond became an ancient emblem of the tribes of Judea. Then, in 53 B.C., when the Romans conquered the region, their legions took on the palm frond as their symbol for the destruction of Jerusalem.
Christ, on his way into that same city prior to his crucifixion was said to ride on a path strewn with the fronds and, partly because of this, by 29 A.D., date palm fronds start appearing as semi-secret symbols of Christianity.
In the Middle Ages, date palms in Europe retained their symbolic status, this time to epitomize endurance – and the will’s triumph over adversity – as the palm tree stands erect, no matter how heavy its ripening fruit might try to weigh it down.
Herbalists, as early as the 1500s, prescribed date palm wine – drunk in a unicorn’s horn – as a cure-all for poisoning, the healing of burns and wounds, and to ward off any stray illnesses that might infect an individual.
In the Middle East, they were also, at one time, a source of wealth – far tastier than crude oil!
Today, dates (both fresh and dried) figure highly in Middle Eastern cuisine. Harosset, for example, is a traditional Passover food that, according to Jewish folklore, is symbolic of the mortar used in their involuntary Egyptian “public works projects.” The Harosset on the Passover table also represents the hope that Jews will continue to build communities and to prosper. Date nut rolls, so popular in organic food stores today, are not too unlike the dish – albeit, minus the sweet wine used in its flavoring,
In my family, dried dates were always somewhere in the pantry; a quick snack for a hungry child, an easy lunch with a bit of cheese and bread and tahn on a hot summer day or, sometimes, dressed more formally; pitted and stuffed with a bit of cream cheese or a blanched almond and on the meze table.
Date nut bread, a heavy, sweet, moist bit of heaven is also pretty easy to make and, served with cream cheese, is one of my favorite lunches
