Are dates the most underrated natural food ?

I’d say so.

[quote]Cut a date open and create a small cave inside. Stuff it with Maranatha unsweetened Almond butter and sprinkle some roasted and finely chopped pecans and almonds on the top.

Divine!

[quote]Thank you

who are you thanking and why?

So sweet and kind of bland.

Hadley's date shake if I'm going to the desert - that's how to consume dates.

Dates and figs are way too sweet for me. I prefer tart/sour flavors over sweet notes.

I like them stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon, so not exactly healthy.

I haven't had a date in years but then I am 70 years old.

I don’t eat my dates unless we go out a second time.

OP loves Medjool dates but can't spell the word. There are several accepted spellings in a few languages, and Madjool is not one of them.

I got 3 boxes in the mail from on Monday. From an old friend, a Berber, who owns a palmeraie in the Drâa Valley. They aren't THAT sweet, guys. My friend is sweet. Well, he's getting old, but he's still handsome. Let me tell you about Berber cock someday. Not to mention Kabyle, but Kabyle, well, that's another land.

Really, I think it’s all about the fig.

Figs and dates are very different. Figs grow pretty far north you know.

Healthy, unless you have type 2 diabetes or are no longer insulin sensitive. A single medjool date has nearly 16g of sugars. A teaspoon of granulated sugar has only 4g of sugars. The amount of fiber per date (1.6g) is not sufficient to effectively slow the rise of blood glucose.

Are journalists paid to write thousand words gobbets of drivel?

Let me tell you about Gefilte Fish and Goose Fat!

Too many calories, especially if you are adding almond butter.

All the dates I ate gave me heartburn. J. Dahmer

Disgusting texture combo of unpleasant skin exterior, sticky gummy interior. I hate dates.

overrated. they hurt palestinians.

Would someone please stuff a coconut down the OP's throat.

Now the shits have moved from calling award-winning celebrities "underrated" to applying the idiotic term and definition to fruits enjoyed for thousands of years by many millions.

Fuck you, OP. and OH, DEAR.

Medjool dates are used instead of sugar in this excellent recipe by the (gorgeous) John Whaite. I've made them a few times and they are amazing. My family and friends love them. He also uses rye flour so it's a lot lower in gluten content.

"John Whaite's Sugar-Free Chocolate Brownies"

Dates and Figs are used pretty extensively in Christmas food in the UK, they are fairly cheap here at about £1.80 ($3) per pound, sometimes half that dependent on season.

Dates are underrated by Americans but not by Arabs. I love dates but I prefer figs.

I'd rather have fresh figs than dried, usually with Parma ham and fresh Mozzarella. They cost about 30p (40c) each in the UK in summer.

I’m withholding my judgement till I hear from Greg. This is a topic suited to his culinary expertise. I wonder if dates can sub for prunes in a cod dish…

Dates go better with my honey glazed unagi fritters. It's Asian fusion and all my clients rave about it.

[quote] "Dates and figs are way too sweet for me. I prefer tart/sour flavors over sweet notes."

Same, R4.

I always thought they were disgusting until the Kurdish grocer gave me one to try, and now I love them. But they have to be the big, soft, kind of fresh ones. They have a really nice, deep flavor. If they're too sweet for you, stuffing them with cream cheese or soft goat's cheese is great.

Another yummy, less unhealthy snack: a piece of very dark chocolate spread with cashew or almond butter.

The brownies may be free of cane sugar R18, but at 16g of sugars each, dates are just as bad for you.

r21 Is "Parma ham" the British term for Prosciutto? For some reason Brits love to give stupid, unappetizing names to food.

R27 Parma Ham is exclusively made in Parma. Prosciutto can be produced anywhere, it's usually used for products that don't have a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin).

The correct term is of course ' Prosciutto di Parma' but if 'di Parma' isn't on the label it isn't genuine.

They're nasty looking. They remind me of cockroach eggs.

I grew up eating these guys: dates with a dusting of coconut and an almond on top.

Agree that dates and figs are sweet without much complexity.

The prosciutto, bacon, feta cheese combos sound like the best way to eat dates and figs.

They’re good but they have way too many fucking calories.

Natural and unhealthy.

Never tried but as a kid my mom received a box and they unfortunately looked like packaged tree roaches aka palmetto bugs to the exact color. Grossed me out.

I love them...and figs, too...dried or fresh. I need to buy some. I cut them up and put them in oatmeal.

Date and fig farts are the worst.

[quote] I like them stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon, so not exactly healthy.

Similar, cut in half, stuff with peanut butter and then roll in table sugar. Healthy, probably not, tasty, absolutely.

They are quite sugary, but maybe the fiber helps mitigate the glycemic load? I think pairing them with a fatty and/or fiberful thing also helps.

I heard an annoying and exciting old cow berating an unfortunate Fairway employee today. She was bitching that the Medjool dates were mixed with some other kind of dates and “it’s just not right. It’s very very wrong and something needs to be done about it”

It made me recall the poisoned dates in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.

Dried dates and figs are both tasty.

Frankly, prunes get a bad rap, but are also rather tasty.

No R35. Prune farts are -by far - the worst.

Dates are good in banana bread, too.

R35 No, that would be egg farts.

1) Stuff your dates with cheese as stated, maybe mascarpone, & top with a pecan.

2) Put dates in food processor. Add quality unsweetened cocoa powder. Process until mixed (won't take long) then roll a heaping teaspoon into a ball. (You could then roll in coconut, or ground nuts too.) Voilà! Such a brilliant snack: only 2 ingredients, wonderful dark chocolate, can be a great gift - put in those little pleated candy paper cups (like miniature muffin cups) and package with flair, channeling your inner Fanny Cradock. "Remember, you're among professionals now."

Coconut is probably the most underrated natural food.

Love Dates, but started to put on too much weight so switched to Prunes which have less sugar and more fibre and don't linger long in your digestive system.

I like coconut flavor...but don't like the meat, too chewy and hard to swallow.

I just bought some dates, because of this thread. I also bought ricotta cheese. I'll try cutting the date in half, and fill with the cheese. Sounds good...

Coconut also comes in butter and oil. It doesn't have to be the coconut meat.

I've hated coconut every since I was a kid, we were almost force fed Bounty coconut filledchocolate bars (they were about four times the size they are now).