Enjoying A Date With Good Health

Every generation thinks it’s found the secret of eternal health and youth.

Thus it was last week when I heard a young nutritionist advising western immigrants how to keep cool in the intense Israeli summer heat.

None of us is ever too old to learn but I was tickled when she repeated what my late mother used to say during the so-called British summer when I heard the Corona salesman’s van trundling along Rotton Park Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

“Don’t ask me for lemonade”, she’d warn. “The Indians believe it’s better to drink tea in hot weather – it makes you sweat and then cools you down.” 

Mum’s word was law even if she had a peculiarly personal view of what was then called ‘nature cure’. She considered it important – but not so important that it stopped her smoking - or making what is now considered to be very rich food. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, vegetarianism was dismissed as ‘cranky’ and ‘whole food’ meant ‘eat it all - or else!’

At Passover we ate the traditional dried fruit compote while the winter festive period saw everyone noshing tangerines and dried ‘Eat Me’ dates – and it was dates that the youthful expert suggested that her audience ate as a sweetener in lieu of sugar.

Now I’m a lacto-veggie cook of more than twenty-five years’ experience but I was totally bemused by fresh dates when I came to Israel. At the Dohan Market in Karmiel they are sold in bunches on a stick for a couple of months from August.

At first I tried serving them raw but they were tasteless and tough to eat. It was an English vegan friend who told me how best to prepare them. I felt most stupid when she said they should be cooked first!

Furthermore, I asked a vegan friend here in Karmiel how he replaced bees’ honey in order to observe the practice of dipping honey in apple at Rosh Hashana – Jewish New Year. He explained that he used date honey, which biblical historians now insist was the real delicacy discovered by Joshua and Caleb in the land ‘flowing with milk and honey’.

Below I’m posting two date recipes – one using fresh dates and the other dried. But be warned: Both recipes also use large quantities of cane sugar along with the dates. It seems that westerners can’t get through life without it. Enjoy!

Candied Dates with Cardamom

(The recipe is from Tastespotting) (http://www.tastespotting.com/features/fresh-dates)

Ingredients

1½ pounds of fresh yellow or red dates
2½ cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
Green cardamom seeds, crushed with a knife or mallet (traditionally, cloves are used)
½ cup peeled pistachios or almonds (almonds or candied orange rinds are used traditionally)

Method

Peel the dates with a peeler; one option is to boil them first and then peel them when they have cooled.

Place the dates in a saucepan and cover with water. Simmer gently until they are soft when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes or more. Cool a bit.

Remove the dates from the saucepan and with the tip of a knife or a vegetable corer, dislodge the seed from the dates and any strings from the inside of the fruit. Insert an almond inside or some pistachios.

Place the dates back in the pot and add 2½ cups of sugar. Leave overnight or 12 hours or so.

The next day, measure the syrup and add enough water to equal four cups. Add the cardamom or cloves and boil the syrup down, adding some lemon juice until it is syrupy. Place the dates back in the syrup and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Cool. Place in sterilized jars. Serve or store in the fridge.

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Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce

(The recipe is from Epicurious)

(http://www.epicurious.com/recip es/food/views/Sticky-Date-Pudding-with-Toffee-Sauce-15100)Ingredients

For the pudding

1 3/4 cups packed pitted dates (about 10 ounces)

2 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

For the sauce

1 3/4 sticks (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour.

Coarsely chop dates and in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan simmer dates in water, uncovered, five  minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda. (Mixture will foam.) Let mixture stand 20 minutes.

While mixture is standing, into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating after each addition until just combined. Add date mixture and with a wooden spoon stir batter until just combined well.

Pour batter into baking pan and set pan in a larger baking pan. Add enough hot water to larger pan to reach halfway up sides of smaller pan and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove smaller pan from water bath and cool pudding to warm on a rack.

Make sauce while pudding is cooling:

xxIn a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderate heat and add brown sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, and stir in cream and vanilla. Simmer sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Cool sauce to warm.

Cut warm pudding into squares. Serve pudding with ice cream and warm sauce.

Technorati Tags: Israel,Dates,Fresh Dates,Dried Dates,'Eat Me' Dates,Tea,Summer

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