With the ever increasing price of fresh fruits and every other kinds as well, don’t forget to look at Dates and consider adding in a good supply of dried dates, they keep very well if keep cool/dry, I like to store mine in a jar and removed the air and so far I have not lost any that way.

I have been saying to my DH for the past five years at least, I don’t understand why there are not a more popular fruit, sweet, tasty, and so healthy for you, full of vit, minerals and fiber, it even makes it into the top 150 healthiest foods on earth book by Ph. D Jonny Bowden.

Here’s just a few of the perks of Dates, They have been called Nature’s Candy and if you want to cut down use of sugar in recipes, replacing with some dates will hide the fact beautifully. Dates are not low cal foods, a large pitted date has 66 calorie, but o the health part, it has a perfect ratio of calcium/magnesium at one to one, 1 and half gram of fiber and more then 160 mg of heart healthy potassium, there is more then a trace amounts of another half dozen vit/minerals.

Looking for Antiodidents content, well of the berries, Blackberries won the crown with a whooping 5500 TE Score, Dates took the fruits with a score of 6600. So if you want to be able to put away some heavy duty calories in a very small space that can be eaten as is (no heating or cooking required) can be used in many ways once you add in heat/water.

Basic Date Cake FG style

Chop up about a cup of loosely packed Dates into peices, place in a bowl and just cover them with freshly boiled water (make yourself a cup a tea at the same time) then walk away, drink your tea and let the dates sit in the hot water for at least ten min.

This for me is a one bowl cake, so in goes the dates and water, a pinch of salt, two glugs of oil so about 1/4 cup, three big eggs (extra large chicken or two duck), beat togther with dates and water, I like to add 1/2 tsp of all-spice, sometimes ginger, sometimes I will even cut up dried ginger and add it to the dates to soak. Some folks like to add walnuts or any kind of chopped nuts if you do up to a cup, I often don’t.

Two half cups of flour, and a heaping tbsp of baking powder, just stirred like you would for a muffin, and into a 8 by 8 cake pan if you want it really nice and high, but I used a slightly bigger baking dish, bake at 350 for around 40 min or until a knife comes out mostly clean, the dates can leave on the knife but there should be no dough wet.

This is a dense, moist o so flavorful filled cake, the batter could be used in muffin tins or a loaf pan, your choice on how to serve it.  It keeps well for a number of days and freeses like a dream.

So do you use dates in your baking? What is your favorite recipe? I have been known to throw dates into my lamb stews, where with long slow cooking times they just melt into the stew and a wonderful depth to the stew itself.