Date with a plate (+recipes)

Life is full of coincidences; like the time I was watching Man vs. Wild on the telly while tucking into a bowl of crispy lamb with zucchini and pumpkin and lemon couscous, followed by dates with honey and greek yoghurt.

Meanwhile, in the sun-scorched Sahara, Bear Grylls was eating scorpion and sandfish while explaining how to escape from quicksand. He tore strips off his shirt to bind around his feet before climbing a date palm to eat the unripe bitter fruit dangling in clusters. If he slipped, the rough exterior of the palm would rip him to shreds.

Dates contain a high proportion of sugar and their nutritional attributes, plus a bit of camel milk, can keep nomadic Bedouins alive for months.

With this, I looked at my meal and saw my wrinkly dates in a new light. With more than 600 varieties, the date palm is probably the oldest tree cultivated by man, growing along the Nile as early as 5000BC.

Date palms take up to six years to bear fruit, and mature palms produce 80-120kg of dates during the harvest season. The dates take about 200 days to ripen and must have a moisture content of 20-24 per cent before further processing or packaging.

Although the medjool date is the most common variety, the mozafati from Iran is a rising star - thanks to its plump and succulent shape. With 30,000 tons exported, this medium-sized date is dark, soft and sweet and is exceptionally suited to fresh consumption as it can be stored for up to two years at -5C. Fresh dates will last for two months if kept in an airtight container, for six months in the refrigerator, and can also be frozen.

Avoid packaged dates with sugar crystals on the skin. Dried dates can be brought back to life by submerging them in steaming liquorice tea. Dates are wonderfully aromatic as a mezze filled with almonds, walnuts, candied citrus, tahini, marzipan or cream cheese. They are wonderful paired with cinnamon and lemon peel and simmered in Moroccan tagines.

Similar to maples, date palms are tapped for their sweet sap, which is converted into jaggery, molasses, vinegar and a sparkling juice. Great care must be taken when extracting the sap or the palm will die.

I was once challenged to give children a savoury snack and filled dates with toasted almonds, orange zest, fried minced bacon and creamy feta. I encased this in sushi rice, dunked it in tempura batter and fried until crispy, warning the kids that if tomato sauce came anywhere near them I would have a Gordon Ramsay moment.

These morsels were greeted with smiles - no doubt Bear Grylls would find them more palatable than snake.

Date and almond tart

Makes one 24cm springform tin

1 cooked tart shell
600ml cream
1 vanilla bean, split
8 egg yolks
110g caster sugar
30ml Amaretto liqueur
50g flaked almonds, toasted
40 fresh dates, de-stoned

1. Pre-heat oven to 150C.

2. In a saucepan, bring the cream and vanilla bean to the boil then remove from the heat.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until pale and thick.

4. Remove the vanilla bean from the cream, stir cream mixture into the egg base.

5. Scatter the almonds over the bottom of the tart shell and place the dates in a symmetrical pattern.

6. Pour the cream mixture over the top and bake for 30 minutes or until just cooked in the centre.

7. Dust with icing sugar and caramelise with a blow torch.

Macadamia and date sambal

Makes large preserving jar

3 onions, peeled & finely diced
1 1/2 cups Macadamia nuts, smashed and toasted
4 small red chillies, seeded, chopped and fried till crisp
2 tbsp ginger, peeled, grated and fried
300ml date molasses
140ml lime juice
1/2 cup currants

1. In a frypan, saute the onions until golden.

2. Place the onions into a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and cook until chutney-like in texture.

3. Adjust the flavour with salt and store in sterilised jars.

An awesome accompaniment to roast venison.