The Amazing Story of The Fabulous Medjool Date

By Marc E. Paulsen

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: School & Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977473708
• ISBN13: 9780977473700
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Marc Paulsen Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 5.5" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Insight into the Growing of A Delicacy

Dates are the oldest cultivated tree crop, with records and pictures dating back over 6,000 years and fossil remains going back millions of years. Medjool dates are at the top of the date "taste hierarchy." In 1927 most of the few Medjool date trees (reserved for Mid-Eastern royalty) were diseased - luckily two Americans brought 11 offshoots from a healthy grove to the U.S., and these have served as the origin of all U.S. Medjool dates. In addition, offshoots of these resulting American trees were later sent back to the Mid-East to restart the ravaged population there. Medjool palm trees require 10-15 years to reach full production of 100-200 lbs./tree. In the U.S. they grow best in the high temperatures and low humidity of the Southwest - as long as adequate irrigation is also available. Growing Mejools is a labor-intensive process, requiring climbing each tree as many as 18 times/year. Medjools can be grown from seeds, but the result is usually unsatisfactory because the result is unlike the original tree and usually inferior. Thus, "offshoots" that spring up at the bottom of trees at least 3-5 years old are used. The Medjool date tree bears fruit for as long as 100 years, though yields decline after about 50 years. Medjool trees are planted 30 feet apart from each other to allow adequate sunlight for each tree. Other cultivating and harvesting steps include dethorning new branches in early January and trapping pocket gophers (damage the roots). Pollen is later harvested from male trees, and then applied manually (shaking or blowing) onto female trees in late March and early April. Female trees are the only fruit producers. (Typical ratio of 1 male for 49 female trees.) Later, dramatic thinning of the fruit is required to allow those remaining to grow larger; during the thinning process additional pollination also takes place. After the fruit develop, in June the trees are "ringed" (special wire rings spread the fruit clusters, allowing better all-round exposure to the sun) and bagged (protects from birds). In August the bag bottoms are closed to capture dates that fall off. September-October then brings several rounds of harvesting - the fruit do not all ripen at once; less valuable types of dates are harvested all at once.