Dried dates are easy to pass by. Their appearance, dark and shriveled, maybe even a bit dusty looking, is not alluring. The recipes we associate with them – most often stuffed with a bit of nut or blue cheese – seem terribly old-fashioned. Central only to the domain of the health-food store, where they’re baked into leaden loaves of date bread, or our grandmother’s pantry, where they share shelf-space with the prunes, dates seem a relic of the past. But what a past they have. Dates have a history that is as romantic and intriguing as an epic adventure story – full of perilous journeys, life and death struggle and, of course, a few steamy scenes, too. The history and symbolism of dates traces back for thousands of years, nearly to the beginning of history. Remains of dates have been found back as far as the Neolithic period; there is evidence that they were gathered by people up to eight thousand years ago. Date palms were also one of the earliest cultivated foods, the first groves being established roughly five thousand years ago in what is now Iraq. The date palm is, in fact, integral to desert life. So much so, it is considered the “tree of life” for its ability to provide the necessary elements of survival – food, drink and shelter. All aspects of the plant can be utilized. Even the plant’s shade provides respite for man, beast and crops that would otherwise wither in the punishing desert sun. Without it, civilization would not have been established in the unforgiving regions of the desert that would be completely uninhabitable without this miracle fruit. Our own American history with the date is equally intriguing. Dates came to the United States as part of an “Indiana Jones” like mission sponsored by the Department of Agriculture in 1898, which solicited men to travel the world to obtain new, exotic food crops to establish in America. Two members of the group, botanist David Fairchild and his colleague, Walter Swingle, investigated the date palm and thought its ability to thrive in desert conditions made it a perfect match for the Coachella Valley of California, known as the American Sahara. Swingle took on the perilous journey of traveling the Middle East to procure date palm shoots which he then transplanted in the Valley, laying the cornerstone of what was to become the epicenter of today’s date palm groves. In the early to mid-1900s, nursery owners planted thousands of date palms throughout the Coachella Valley. Towns in the area road the wave of interest in exotic Arabia spurred by movies such as The Queen of Sheba, decorating their date stands like bazaars and temples to capitalize on the fruit’s exotic origins. Today, southern California remains the leading producer in domestic dates but produces only a fraction of the world’s supply, which is predominately grown in the Middle East and Northern Africa. The date palm can grow up to an impressive one hundred feet tall and live more than a hundred years. They are known to like their “feet in the water and head in the sun,” meaning that they dig their toes (aka roots) in the sand to access underground water but need very arid, sunny weather to thrive. Although the plant can survive in temperate regions such as the southern United States and even as far north as British Columbia, the plant will only produce fruit in desert climates. Daytime temperatures in the upper nineties and low 100s Fahrenheit are balmy to the palm. Date palms produce both male and female plants and will reproduce prolifically by seed. However, under cultivation, they must be hand-pollinated to control the balance of fruit bearing female plants and non-fruit bearing male plants. Date farmers gather the pollen from the fragrant, flowering male plants and dust it onto the just-opened female flowers. Often times, the male flowers are bound to the female buds so that the fertilization can occur over the few days it takes for the female plants to fully open to receive the pollen. Sort of like dating dates. The pollinated female plants produce berries that grow and ripen over the hot summer season. Toward the end of the season, ripe berries are often covered to prevent birds from feasting on the fruit. The ripe fruit is then collected by hand and, in a few varieties, eaten raw, but mostly allowed to dry to reach their full flavor. Dates like to soak up all of the heat of summer and are fully ripe at the end of it. In California, that means that they are harvested in September, October and November, after the region’s hottest days have acted on the fruit. Date palms are extremely drought tolerant. Their roots are expert at seeking out underground sources of water. The plants have been known to survive for several years without a single rainfall. However, a plant denied of water will not produce fruit. They can also withstand water-logged conditions as well, as long as the water is aerated, such as by a running stream. Date palms can also tolerate a high level of salinity in the soil and do well seaside. Dates are often fumigated after harvest to eliminate contamination by pests. Although efforts are being made to phase out its usage, methyl bromide is often employed. Sulphuryl fluoride and phosphine are also used. Organic fumigation methods include treating the fruit with carbon dioxide, storing them briefly in a low-oxygen environment, heating the fruit or freezing it. Dates are often coated with vegetable oil, glucose syrup, corn syrup, date syrup, sorbitol or glycerol to improve their appearance in the marketplace. The Environmental Working Group rates the dried dates that they have tested as low concern food (as low as 1.5 for on a scale of 1-10), meaning that the combined pesticide levels, nutritional values and production methods used raise relatively few red flags.