Dates take about 7 months from the time they first emerge from the spath or casing until they are fully ripened.They like very hot, dry weather and lots of water on their roots.
In the hababuk stage, dates are hand pollinated. In nature, one-half of the palms would be male, but in agriculture, mostly females are planted since only they bare fruit. One male is planted for 50 females. The pollen flowers are cut from the male tree and the pollen is extracted, then applied by hand to the female blooms to assure a good fruit set.
The medjool variety is thinned in the kimri stage at about 9 to 12 weeks. 60% to 75% of the young fruit is taken off. This causes the remaining fruit to grow extra large.
In later Kimri, the fruit stalk is tied-down to a frond. This positions the bunch and keeps the strings of fruit from being tangled in the fronds.
In late kimri or early Khalal, the fruit bunches are bagged. This keeps the ripening dates protected from rain. birds and sun burn. This is done with a paper wrap or nylon mesh bag.
Late in the khalal stage a few varieties can be harvested and eaten in their hard yellow or red state, but most kinds are totally astringent, like an unripe persimmon. Some growers freeze khalals to remove astringency. Barhi and Desert Gem are two kinds that are very good in their natural, unfrozen state. Khalal dates are cut and packed on the string they grow on. Given the proper conditions they will continue to ripen into the rutab stage.
In the rutab stage, soft date varieties can be very juicy. This is called "wet" in North America. They can be harvested like this, but are very delicate and need to be handled very carefully.
If allowed to hang on the trees another two to three weeks they will go into their tamr state and are self-preserved. The tamr dates are still soft, but have a lower moisture content than rutab. Most dates are harvested in the tamr stage.
A sacred tree
The date palm has played a crucial role in the history of human kind, and has been especially important in the Middle East and North Africa. It not only provided the main staple food for these desert cultures, but also shade (almost as important). It provided materials for building, baskets and mats, medicines, "and as many other uses as there are days in the year". Because it was one of the things that sustained life, it was given spiritual significance, and is revered as a sacred tree to Muslims. To the Israels it is known as "the tree of life". Three out of the five major world religions use date palms in their religious rituals; Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It is believed by many to be the date tree not the apple tree that was spoken of in the Garden of Eden. The exact origin of the date palm, (Phoenix Dactylifera), is unknown. It probably first grew in North Africa or possibly South West Asia. Date pits 50,000 years old were found in a cave in Northern Iraq by archaeologist. One of the first cultivated crops was dates, starting as early as 8,000 years ago. In Egyptian hieroglyphics the symbol for one month is a palm frond (a tree grows about 12 fronds a year), and the Egyptian symbol for a year is a full date palm. The Moors introduced the date palm to Spain in the 8th century A.D. The Spanish brought date seeds to Cuba in 1513, and in 1765 dates were successfully grown at the Mission at San Ignacio in Baja California where they still flourish today. The first date palm offshoots of established varieties from the Middle East came to the U.S. around 1900, and were planted in Arizona and California.
According to a recent publication by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations...
"In most varieties the sugar content of the date fruit is almost entirely of the inverted form (namely glucose or fructose}. Important for persons who can not tolerate sucrose. The invert sugar in dates is immediately absorbed by the human body without being subject to the digestion that ordinary sugar goes through. Their energy is in the form of invert sugars, except for the Deglet Noor and Thoory varieties, in which about one-half of the sugar content is in the form of cane sugar or sucrose."