Date

A date is a wrinkled, amber-brown dried drupe with sticky, chewy flesh and glossy skin. It tastes intensely sweet with caramel and toffee notes, softens with gentle heat, and binds mixtures like energy bars; common uses include chopping into breads and salads, stuffing with cheese or nuts, and blending into smoothies or pastes, and it is sold whole, pitted, chopped, or as paste.\n\nCultivated for millennia in the Middle East and North Africa, the date palm spread across the Mediterranean and later to South Asia and California. Varieties such as Deglet Noor and Medjool are typically sun-dried or cured on the palm before packing.