Last week we did a talk on how to grow your own date palm trees from seeds that you saved. This week we wanted to share some recipes using dates.

As with most of our talks, we advise, if you can not or do not want to grow your own, that is ok. You can still benefit by buying in bulk and using those ingredients to make your own “stuff”. When you start from scratch, you know what is in your food. There is the added incentive of being able to make your food exactly the way you like it. You avoid preservatives, chemicals, unwanted colors, etc.

So if growing dates is not on your list of things to try right now, buy what you need.

Not everyone likes dates and many people have not even tried dates, they just think they do not like them. But how will you know if you do not try? Below are a couple of recipes that we have tried here on the farm.

As with many of our talks, this may be something you do not need or want to use now. But, knowing something and how to do things, gives you an advantage if it comes time to use this knowledge, or skill later on.

Some of us love dates and just eat them at treats. Some of us do not. But if we run out of sugar or caramel or fruit of some other kind, we can substitute with dates.

We must admit using dates as a sugar substitute did not sit well with everyone. But in a pinch, date sugar is totally doable.

As you can see, there are lots of options in date sugar.  Date sugar is rising in popularity for healthy cooking and baking.

Date recipes, like most kinds of recipes, can be very simple with only a few ingredients to decadent and complicated.

Date recipes:

Date Syrup

1 1/2 cups pitted dates

1/4 lemon

1 1/2 cup hot water

a tiny piece of lemon peel (optional)

Simply put all ingredients into a blender and blend on high till smooth and creamy. Makes a natural sweetener to replace sugar or syrup.

For pancakes, biscuits, and sugar substitutes in baking, this date syrup worked well enough. But we do not advise you to add it to your coffee, this did not work well for us.

If you can not or do not want to make your own you can buy date syrup.

Date Caramel

You will need:

3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter or other nut butter of your choosing

Different kinds of nut butter does change the taste a bit.

18 pitted dates make approx. 1 1/2 cups

To make date caramel:

In a mixer, blender, or food processor mix all your ingredients.

It seems easier to start with the liquids first and add the solids one at a time.

Mix until you get a creamy, smooth texture. You may want to stop the blender and scrape the sides to get all the ingredients well mixed from time to time.

Transfer your date caramel into a jar or container and keep it in the fridge if you do not plan to use it quickly.

You can use this date caramel as a substitute for caramel apples, dipping bread, or pretty much anything you like.

We tried this recipe ourselves but we found it to be more like apple butter/date butter than caramel.

Recipes we found on Pinterest

These are just some of the great sites that we found while researching ways to use dates in our everyday meals.

There are so many great recipes, tips, hacks, and substitutes using dates. Try starting with some of these and experimenting for yourself.

Several recipes by Coach Debbie

Date energy gels

https://coachdebbieruns.com/medjool-date-energy-gels/

Date Truffles

https://coachdebbieruns.com/medjool-date-truffles/

Chocolaty Walnut Date Balls

https://coachdebbieruns.com/chocolaty-walnut-date-balls/

Medjool Date Appetizers with Cashew Cheese and Arugula

https://coachdebbieruns.com/medjool-date-appetizers/

A couple of recipes from Veg Kitchen

https://www.vegkitchen.com/chocolate-date-nut-lollipops/

https://www.vegkitchen.com/date-pecan-bars/

A really cool recipe from Half Baked Harvest

Vegan Chocolate Fudge Popsicles

https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/vegan-chocolate-fudge-popsicles/

And a variety of options from Minimalist Baker

minimalistbaker.com

29 Plant-Based Date Recipes sweetened with dates

https://minimalistbaker.com/29-plant-based-date-recipes/

We hope you have enjoyed this quick trip down date lane so to speak. Try out some of these recipes and see for yourself how good dates can be.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.