Whats a girl gotta do to get a decent Date!

So I used to hate Dates. "What the what?!" you say....

And by Dates, I mean those big shrively.. for lack for a better description...dried 'animal turd-lookin' fruit. Actually, the fruit's English name evolved from the Greek word for "finger",dáktulos because of the fruit's elongated shape So another way to think of them is as old dried fingers. By now you must be wondering if this is a halloween post, or saying "youze nasty gurl!!"

I think all this hate stems from my intense dislike of raisins....which I'm still slowly getting over. (Though the sun-maid black raisins still make me gag.) But I have started to become a fan of fresh golden raisins. In addition, I kept getting dates confused with prunes( dried plums) and thought it was just something old people needed to poo. 1

So imagine my surprise when I moved to California and started attending Farmers Markets to find single "Date" stands among all the produce stalls. And I started to get curious, because there was so many different kinds of Dates at these stands. Big ones. Small ones. Fresh ones. More shrively than usual ones....

After a few years, I decided to finally take a sample and I was completely flabbergasted. Dates tasted like delicious candy! What had I been doing all my life to ignore a healthy and yummy sweet....

Personally, I prefer very sticky and chewy dates or ones that have been given some time for the sugars to cystalize so they have a tiny bit of crunch. To get more a variety than just the Medjool ones at the grocery store, you really should head to a farmers market or mail order from Flying Disc Ranch for amazing selection as well.

My favorite variety is the Barhi. The best description and a bit x-rated is Flying Disc Ranch describes them "Succulent, sensual, luscious" My simple description would be "Best Date EVA"

So if you ever see dates at the farmers market, run over and give yourself a treat. And if you ever see a bacon-wrapped date at a party, make sure to pop two in your mouth because thats why we have 2 cheeks.

1 This post is becoming more and more gross. What is it with me and Dates?!