Dating The Dates This Valentine's Day

In India, Valentine's day finds a mixed reaction; Many people are still reluctant to celebrate this day considering it as a threat to traditional Indian values. However, it holds the favorite place in the heart of the youths who heartily welcome it every year. While, the married couples - some newly married ones or those who are more romantically inclined would definitely celebrate this day in various ways possible: by going out for dinners, movie outings, shopping gifts for loved ones and so on. I remember the malls in the cities decorated with heart-shaped balloons and lovely flowers. Many stores offer discounts on gift items - especially targeting the youth and jewelry stores offer discounts on diamonds targeting couples. And yes during my college days, it used to be a day filled with fun - beginning with the exchange of cards and flowers amongst the students and sometimes even the teachers and professors, proposals to pretty girls, chocolates to girlfriends, cards to sweethearts, heartbreaks for some, and so on. The day ended with love, emotions, and high drama, where some gain while some lose. Probably, the ones who make the most on this day, are gift stores selling cards, flowers and other gift items and jewelry shops offering special discounts on jewelry items.

Luckily for me, my marriage anniversary falls during the Valentine week. With my husband stationed for his job elsewhere, we were unable to celebrate our anniversary day together but he will be there on the Valentine's Day. So, as all the couples gear up for the Valentine's day, here I am dating the dates.

Last weekend during my grocery shopping, I was greeted by a beautiful sight at the entrance of the Hypermarket. It was a display of all Omani products that ranged from cooking oil to cookies, deodorants to detergents and more. What caught my attention though were the dates of Oman. After finishing my grocery shopping, I visited the dates counter - a corner which I used to never ever give a second look except for perhaps buying the date syrup once in a while. However, this time I had this in the back of my mind that we shall be leaving Oman soon and so I made up my mind to try and taste them. I stopped at the counter and asked the seller to give me a sample of all the dates that were locally available in Oman.

Promotion of Omani products at the Hypermarket

'Harmony Dates' -  A Counter selling Dates and its Products

The counter had dates from UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. He gave me small sample packets of dates viz. Bunaringa, Handhal, Fardh, and Khalas. I was expecting more date varieties, but he said he was out of stock currently, and that most of the varieties will be found during the Ramadan season when there is high demand for dates. Knowing that I would soon confuse the names I asked him to label each packet and he gladly obliged. I learned from the seller that these dates were named after the region they were grown in and these dried dates had a shelf life of up to a year. The price of the Omani dates varied as per season and ranges from 1.5 OMR/kg to 2.0 OMR/kg. During Ramadan, the demand for dates is high as the traditionally the Muslims break their daylong fast with this fruit, hence the prices of dates during that time of the year is at the peak.

The date counter was lined up with lot of other products made from dates: date syrup, date paste with dry fruits, date halwa, dates with chocolate, dates with almond, dates with cashews, dry dates, etc.

Range of date products at the counter

Back at home with my grocery shopping, I couldn't find the time to savor them at all. Lying in front of me were these tiny brown dried fruits ready to be devoured. Finally, I couldn't resist just waiting and watching and decided to have a bite of each. Each variety had a slightly different texture, had a little size variation with Bunaringa being smallest in size and were in different shades of brown with Khalas being of light golden brown in color. In terms of taste, they varied in sweetness. Of these, I liked the sticky, dark brown and sweetest of them all - the Fardh.

My bowl of dates - Fardh, Bunaringa, Handhal, Khalas

Dates are found all over the world with top producers being Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Oman is ranked 7th among the top ten date producers in the world. 75% of the land of Oman is dedicated to date farming, and it produces more than 200 indigenous varieties of dates out of which 20 varieties have commercial value. Some of the 20 kinds of best dates of Oman: Abu daan, Abu naranjah, baql, barni, barshi, bunaringa, fardh, hilal, handhal, jabri, Khasab, khalas, khunaizi, madluki, masli, minawi, nagal, qass, qashkantarah, sallani, sahal, suwaih, tabaq, xalas, xasab, xinezi, zabd. Now these names were like tongue twisters! Khalas and Khunaizi are a popular variety among the Omanis and these two varieties form almost 50% of date cultivation among the other varieties, while Fardh is a common variety to be exported all over the world.

Health Benefits of Dates

Researching further, I was amazed to find that this small dark colored fruit has so many health benefits. It can boost the energy level of a person within half an hour of consuming it and is a good source of sugar, fibers, various vitamins and minerals, and carbohydrates.

• It prevents abdominal cancer
• Promotes healthy bowel movements 
• Strengthens the bones
• It provides energy for anemic patients
• Reduces allergic reactions
• Boosts the nervous system
• Reduces the risk of stroke
• Lowers night blindness
• Helps maintain a healthy weight. 

The American Cancer Society states that consuming one date a day will help maintain your eye health all your life. Now what more do you want from a fruit!

A popular magazine for the youth here states that dates are like traditional life insurance. The Omanis have been following a tradition that when a son is born they plant a shoot of the date palm too. It grows along with the child providing the many benefits to him. Below is a picture I had captured a few months ago at Qurum Centre in Muscat which is of much relevance in this post. This mural on the outer walls of the mall depicts a farm laborer collecting dates from the fully laden date palm. It also highlights the importance of date cultivation in Oman. An interesting find was that no birds or bees are attracted to the flowers of the date palm, which implies that the date palm growers have to pollinate the flowers by hand.

A Mural on the wall of Qurum Centre, Muscat

The importance of date palm as an ornamental tree is highlighted by the fact that all around Muscat, the roads and avenues, are adorned with date palms.

A road in Muscat lined up with date palms

Talking about us Bengalis and 'Khejur Gur' 

Most of us have a sweet tooth and no festival or puja is celebrated without sweets in our homes. I remember my mother making them with so much verve and enthusiasm and she still does so, and we consumed them within a few hours of her having made them. I remember my mother making patishapta (rice pancakes in milk flavored with palm jaggery), payesh (rice pudding in palm jaggery), sandesh (cottage cheese with palm jaggery), naru (coconut laddo with palm jaggery) and many more. In all of these desserts, palm jaggery (Khejur Gur in Bengali) was the prime ingredient that gave it a distinct taste. Now this traditional jaggery was not found in all parts of India. It is extracted from palm trees cultivated in West Bengal and Bangladesh (on the eastern side of the country). So, for us Probashi Bengalis, residing in the western part of the country, palm jaggery was a rare commodity. We requested our friends and relatives visiting Bengal, to bring palm jaggery for us on their next visit. So this is how we sourced our palm jaggery all the way from Bengal. I don't have any pictures of those delectable sweets and savories prepared by my mother, but the taste of those mouthwatering sweets vividly lingers in my memory.

Here in Muscat, some Bangladeshi stores do keep a stock of palm jaggery sourced from Bangladesh. I often use palm jaggery in simple preparations like tomato date chutney, date flavored milkshakes, payesh (rice pudding), chocolate and date cakes, etc. And no, I am not going to write any recipes here, for cooking is not my forte.

A Date Palm in Muscat

Sharing with you all, some beautiful quotes (my favorite ones) for this Valentine week:

"Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses." - Ann Landers

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." - Charles M Schulz.

"If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love." - Maya Angelou

"They invented hugs to let people know you love them without saying anything." - Bil Keane

"We are most alive when we're in love." - John Updike

Petunia Blossoms under the palm

And finally, just seven lines from my pondering pen for our seventh marriage anniversary dedicated to just us:

He and I

He laughs when I lament,

He criticizes when I comment,

He hugs when I am hurt,

He forgives when I forget,

He tolerates while I torment,

He abstains while I argue,

He loves me while I laud him.

An afterthought: In India, it is believed that marriage is a pious bond not just for this life but extends over for seven ages. So, while the Valentine's week lasts for seven days only, true love lasts forever. So here's wishing all of you a very Happy Valentine's Week - Celebrate this eternal feeling of love with your loved ones. Cheers.

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On our next visit to the same Hypermarket on the Valentine's day, we were greeted with a pleasant sight in the vegetable section. Though this one has nothing to do with the dates, it certainly has a link with the Valentine's day. So here, I am adding the new pics I clicked there.

Left Inset: Tomatoes with garlics in the background
Right Inset: Strawberries with garlics in the background

sources referred:
nizwa.net
organicfacts,net
omancoast.blogspot.com
omantours.com
timesofoman.com
wikipedia.org
y-oman.com