Phoenix dactylifera fruit (big one - about 2 inch),dacty identification possible?

[Dundo]

I have seedlings from this fruit (germination 100%) , we had discussion over this on EPS but no one wasn't sure about variety.

Fruit was quite big(like big plum lol), nothing like dates i ate. I think that this is one of the early/medium ripening cultivars. Fruit i ate wasn't fully mature. They taste was really sweet and texture was like apple(and taste remind me of apple too) just harder to chew, they dry mouth a bit too but you can feel a lot of water in your mouth when u are eating it.

I have info that they come from mountains in Jordan (climate similar to mediterranean but with less rain i think).

You can see giant fruit in first picture (i ate date colored like one on the right part of the picture, left one is same just fermented-it stayed in plastic bag for a while heh)

Measuring unit are centimeters. (2.54 cm = 1 inch)

Fist picture - comparison with smaller apple

Second picture - measuring + color of the fruit when it was ok to eat-same one as in first pic

Third picture - 4 robust seeds

Last picture - comparison of Deglet Nour date seed with my "unnamed date seed".

Edited February 1, 2010 by Dundo

[Dundo]

I was using aluminium tetra packs (1 liter packs) for poting them and they seem to like aluminium tetra packs (after germination ofcourse). I also made compartments when i was potting them (1 tetra pack = 3 seedlings)

They are now about 20centimeters (8 inches) tall and they are looking really healthy (some of them are taller and some are shorter).

Edited February 1, 2010 by Dundo

[Lauriek]

They wouldn't be medjoul dates by any chance? They're big, juicy and sweet.

[Ken Johnson]

Jeezzzzzzz those thing are huge! Can we see Momma? Was she a clone?

[Dundo]

They wouldn't be medjoul dates by any chance? They're big, juicy and sweet.

Medjool date is similar size of Deglet Nour (see fourth picture), i ate Medjools and they are quite smaller and they taste a lot different from these.

Jeezzzzzzz those thing are huge! Can we see Momma? Was she a clone?

Unfortunately not cuz my friend from Sweden bought them there from guy from Jordan who said that they are some variety from Jordan mountains. Well i am really confused atm cuz i never saw anything like this and it seems that no one precisely knows info about this variety

[Kris]

Hai

Nice visuals..by the way you can use ordinary plastic mineral water bottles as i usually do.one and half liters & above will be ideal with pure coarse grade sandy soil.They grow well for me.And they are easier to transport from one place to another.And do not attract rust.

And they seldom cut or damage our hands while handling them..

Thanks for the visuals..By the way our fruit market stock the same variety of dates during our summer season,which is fast approaching.I will try to post visuals of them.They say its from Amman & Muscat.And i have eaten them,the taste experience is the same that you have mentioned.They are not that tasty to keep eating it regularly,when comapared to tined whole or pitted dates from commercial growers.

I have grown few date palms from the seeds derived from the tinned dates fruits..Here is a still of that.And the first one in that still is a p.sylersteris,followed by carifornia date..

lots of love,

kris

[Dundo]

Kris thanks for you answer and great visuals can u pls take a photo of trunk i really wanna see it. That dactys look really great.

I will try to find something out using your info.

Btw this tetra packs never got rust cuz they only have one or two layers of aluminium (they are made for dealing with liquids), you can actually bend them like thicker paper

EPS member from Portugal told me that he saw something like my dactys at local supermarket and that they were more expensive than any other date variety (10 or even 20 times more expensive than other dates).

Greetings from Croatia,

best wishes.

Ivo

Edited February 1, 2010 by Dundo

[Dundo]

Kris I can't find anything under the name you mentioned It's still a mistery :/

[Kris]

Dear Ivo

Our date palm has not put any hardened trunk yet but here is a link where you can find all the details you have asked of our date palm..

Here's a still taken during our rainy season,we call that season as winters.but its not cold at all..

When or at what age do date palms..

Kris I can't find anything under the name you mentioned It's still a mistery :/

Can you explain more clearly what you could not find ? Since i did not follow that question...If its the califronia date company you are searching try www.amazon.com site.and type in their as whole date or pitted dates you will find varity of companies selling it online.And by the way thanks for putting my mind to rest that those aluminium containers do not rust and cut ones finger handling it.

Thanks & Love,

kris

[Dundo]

Thnx for info and link Kris I didn't find any variety of dates under "Amman & Muscat" name.Well Amman is city in Jordan and Muscat is city in Oman so i am bit confused (they are about 2500km far from each other lol). Maybe "Amman & Muscat" are resembling to surname of producers or name of the company but i am not sure about that either.

It seems that I'll never find out real origin and variety of this dates lol

Greetings from Croatia,

Ivo

Edited February 2, 2010 by Dundo

[FRITO]

There are different sized Medjool dates as I am aware, some are the size of delet noor, but the best and most exspensive are very large size you describe. The diffrent grades of Medjool.

http://shieldsdategarden.com/ produces very fine quality dates. The sell 'super jumbo royal Medjoool dates' and ' jumbo royal Medjool Dates'

Heres what Shields syas about the Medjool Date: "largest variety of Date, they are a soft date and can weigh an ounce or more. They are sweet,soft and creamy. Medjools were first grown in the California desert in the 1930's from 11 offshootsimported by the USDA from Morocco. The original trees in Morocco were destroyed by disease, and all the Medjool dates grown in the world today are descended from those offshoots brought to the California desert."

anyways impressive date seed, personally ive never handled any that sized but I think if you order super jumbo medjool from Shields Date Garden you may be able to compare. I ordered some Abadda dates recently and me and all my palm friends agreed it was the best dates we have ever had.

Edited February 2, 2010 by FRITO

[Dundo]

Hi Frito I think its not medjool, especially not any of US varieties. I ate medjools and they are much sweeter than this ones. I think that medjools are late ripening, and these ones are early/medium ripening cultivar in my opinion.And seed shape is wrong for medjool cuz Medjool has a distinct shape.

Thnx for your help, i will do a bit research with lead marks u gave me. Cheers

Edited February 2, 2010 by Dundo

[Kris]

Dear Ivo

I will clarify that Amman & Muscat i meant the countries from where those ripe packed date fruits came from..

And i got this from a friend who's father went on a pilgrimage to mecca & madina and there its coustomery for the mosque to give the devotees free date fruits packed in cardboard carton with a thin plastic layer linning.And it did have the grower name but i cannot recollect that info.But all i remembered is from which country they are from.

And by the way the dates fruits that you have shown in the first post of this thread,its hard to recognise it because all those commercial avaliable Edible dates are prepared with honey and some even baked to cartain temperature for that blackish colour.I have read an complete article of preparation of edible dates but iam unable to find it rightaway in my bookmarks.When i find it i will let you know.So just by seeing a fresh ripe fruit,you can not compare it with any of the tinned version.

Only after you grow those dates palms from seeds and allow it to put a 6 to 8 feet of solid trunk & arching fronds,you will know which variety of date palm you have in your garden.

Lots of love,

kris