Dates

From Cookipedia

Revision as of 08:28, 29 April 2014 by Chef (talk | contribs)

Dates hanging from a date palm

The date is the very sweet drupe (fruit) of the date palm, a native of the Persian Gulf. They are oval-cylindrical, 3–7 cm long, and 2–3 cm diameter, and when unripe, range from bright red to bright yellow in colour, depending on variety. Dates contain a single seed sometimes known as a stone.

Dry or soft dates are eaten out-of-hand, or may be pitted and stuffed with fillings such as almonds, walnuts, candied orange and lemon peel, marzipan or cream cheese. Pitted dates are also referred to as stoned dates. Dates can also be chopped and used in a range of sweet and savoury dishes, from tajines (tagines) in Morocco to puddings, ka'ak (types of Arab breads and cakes) and other dessert items. Dates are also processed into cubes, paste, spread, date syrup or "honey" called "dibs", powder (date sugar), vinegar or alcohol.

In India, North Africa, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire, date palms are tapped for the sweet sap which is converted into palm sugar (known as jaggery or gur), molasses or alcoholic beverages.

How much does one cup of dates weigh?

Estimated US cup to weight equivalents:

Ingredient US Cups Grams Ounces
Dates whole
1
225 grams 8 ounces
Dates pitted, roughly chopped
1
175 grams 6 ounces

Conversion notes:
Every ingredient has a cups to ounces or grams conversion table. Search for the ingredient, cup to weight conversions are at the end of each ingredient page.

We also have a generic conversion table and a portions per person lookup.