Dates – The Healthy Us

A couple of people have talked about Dates and the way that I use them in my recipes. One person in particular brought up how they do not add enough sweetness (which is their purpose in some of these recipes) and how to remedy this. For a couple of months now, we have been utilizing a special ingredient in a couple of non-published recipes that involve date paste. Quite simply, date paste is when you take date, add some water and heat, and then pastify in a food processor. It is very versatile and can be used in many recipes as a brown sugar substitute. Some examples are in a smoothie to increase the sweetness, use in pasta sauces, asian sauces, use as a topping for sweet potatoes, eat on a spoon for a ridiculous sugar fix without actual sugar, topping on a bowl of coconut milk ice cream, there are many uses. The point is, we are trying to find a substitute for sweeteners that are made from chemicals or so highly refined that they may as well be illicit drugs.

Date Paste

Ingredients

1. 1lb of Medjool Dates, pitted and cut in half

2. 1/2 cup of water

3. 1 teaspoon of salt

Recipe

1. Combine all ingredients into a medium pan and lid.

2. Crank the heat to high for 3 minutes.

3. Take the lid off and check the liquid, you want half of it to be gone.

4. When that is the case, take off the heat and immediately pour into a food processor. We use a ninja for this, I do not recommend trying to do this in a blender.

5. Blend on high till it is the consistency of spreadable fruit.

Questions? Please email me or comment below with questions.

We have made a couple of recipes involving the use of dates. I have had some questions about why? The simple answer is that they provide a great source of sweetness in dishes and sauces that require it but a reliable non-processed source is needed, like in our current diet. The long and the short of it, when you render dates in a liquid, that liquid basically becomes a syrup. And you retain most the health benefits listed below. Keep in mind that most of the fiber and phytochemicals are destroyed under heat and pressure involved with cooking. So, say a date sauce on sweet potatoes, while healthy, is not nearly as healthy as eating 3 raw pitted dates are. But it’s a hell of a lot better than processed pancake syrup. A lot of the below information was lifted directly from http://foodfacts.mercola.com/dates.html with a little revision.

Health Benefits of Dates

Dates contain a number of minerals, vitamins, and health-benefiting phytochemicals. First and foremost, they’re easily digested, allowing your body to make full use of their goodness. Dietary fiber in dates helps to move waste smoothly through your colon and helps prevent LDL (bad) cholesterol absorption by binding with substances containing cancer-causing chemicals. The iron content, a component of hemoglobin in red blood cells, determines the balance of oxygen in the blood. Potassium, an electrolyte, helps control your heart rate and blood pressure. B-vitamins contained in dates, such as the carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin, absorb into the retina to maintain optimal light-filtering functions and protect against macular degeneration. They contain vitamins A and K. Vitamin A protects the eyes, maintains healthy skin and mucus membranes, and even protects the lungs and mouth from developing cancer. Tannins, which are flavonoids as well as polyphenolic antioxidants, fight infection and inflammation and help prevent excessive bleeding (anti-hemorrhagic). Vitamin K is a blood coagulant that also helps metabolize your bones. Copper, magnesium, manganese, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), niacin, pantothenic acid, and riboflavin are also present in dates and provide their own unique preventive and healing functions.

Together, these cofactors help your body metabolize carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Eating dates in moderation can contribute to many health benefits, such as protecting against damage to cells from free radicals, helping preventing a stroke, coronary heart disease and the development of colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers.

Studies Done on Dates

One study reported the most prominent health benefits of dates: there are at least 15 minerals in dates, including selenium, an element believed to help prevent cancer and important in immune function, protein, containing 23 types of amino acids, some of which are not present in the most popular fruits, such as oranges, apples, and bananas. Unsaturated fatty acids include palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. The study concluded that dates could be considered a nearly ideal food, with a wide range of essential nutrients and potential health benefits¹.

Summary

Iron for your blood, fiber for roughage, vitamin A for your eyes, potassium for your heart, B-vitamins, tannins – these are just a few of the many nutrients in dates, making them one of the healthiest foods in the world. But make sure you eat them in moderation, as fruits can contain high levels of fructose that can harm your health.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Phoenix%20dactylifera%20cancer The fruit of the date palm: its possible use as the best food for the future? Nov. 2012