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I should have known what would happen when I asked the Epi team Slack channel about everyone's favorite date. Within seconds, social media manager Andrew Spena responded with the oft-meme'd line from Miss Congeniality. Digital director David Tamarkin listed fun and romantic outings for two. I couldn't decide if I was being mocked or actually needed to clarify my question (it was the former). But at the time, I was snacking on a bunch of perfectly plump Medjool dates stuffed with almond butter. Absolutely nothing could get me down.
If you don't eat enough dates to have a favorite variety, it's in your best interest to start. Caramelly, complex, and delightfully textured, dates belong in sweet and savory dishes alike, paired with everything from ice cream to leafy greens. And while you can't go wrong buying whatever dates you can get your hands on and popping them directly into your mouth, it doesn't hurt to have all of the information—including what to look for when shopping, how to store your dates, and creative ways to integrate them into your cooking.
With a little sampling and a discerning palate, who knows? You might be able to release a Date Power Ranking of your own—which will hopefully not include April 25th.
How to shop for dates
Dates differ in appearance from variety to variety (more on that below), but in general, you want to look for fruits that are plump and shiny—not too goopy or too shriveled, but a nice Goldilocks middle ground. Wrinkles are okay, but avoid dates that are dried to the point that they're hard to the touch. Also, good dates should look and feel distinct from one another, rather than squished into a mushy date puck.
Another thing to look out for is sugar crystallization, a sign of aging (and thus moisture loss) in dates that turns the skin white in spots. You can absolutely still eat dates that have begun to sugar (they'll be firmer than the day you brought them home, but still delicious), but you shouldn't buy dates at that stage if you can help it.
You can find the more common types of dates at most grocery stores, but for Barhi and Halawis you might need to venture to a specialty market or shop online. Don't forget to check your local farmers market as well, and research to see if any farms near you grow and sell dates by the pound. A box of farm-fresh dates makes a really good gift, and a sampler box, if you can find one, is the best way to taste your way through a few different varieties.
How to store dates
Dates last a long time—and even longer if you store them properly. In an airtight container in the fridge they'll keep for weeks before they start to sugar, and in the freezer you can revisit the same batch for a up to a year. Because they contain so much natural sugar, dates never completely freeze, which means their texture won't suffer despite long-term cold storage; a few minutes at room temperature will restore them to their original chewy selves.
How to cook with dates
Once you have dates in your kitchen, you'll find that they'll start to feature in everything you make; their earthy sweetness and soft texture make them a welcome addition to almost anything. On the sugary end of spectrum, use dates to fill sticky buns, in sticky toffee pudding, or food processed into a variety of two-bite treats that range from celebratory (khajur ladu, aka pistachio-date balls made for Diwali) to functional (fitness blogger energy bites).
In savory cooking, dates provide a delightful bit of sweetness in crunchy celery slaw, served alongside well-spiced salmon, or as a relish atop pork tenderloin. Bacon-wrapped dates are a classic salty-sweet bar snack, but you can make vegetarian version with parsnips (seriously) and lose none of the compelling flavor.
Cooking with dates also means playing with their texture; the usually soft fruit can caramelize, char, and even melt away into a sauce depending on how you deploy them. Try dates blackened in a hot pan to serve with root vegetables, roasted under saucy chicken in a cast iron, and seared in olive oil to serve with ice cream.
Finally, one easy and quick date tip: Toss a few into your morning smoothie or pick-me-up shake for a spike of natural, caramelly sweetness.
Our five favorite types of dates
Medjool dates are the most commonly grown and thus the most widely available—and also likely the type of date your recipe calls for if it specifies. Large and plump, Medjool dates are often described as “syrupy,” both because of their maple-y flavor and their luscious texture.
Aside from Medjools, Deglor Noors are the other most commonly found date in grocery stores and markets, and the variety you're probably buying if you go for pre-pitted dates. Deglets are subtler in sweetness and a little nutty in flavor, making them a great snacking date—but they also hold their texture nicely when cooked, so they're a favorite for braises and roasts.
Extremely sweet and soft, Barhi dates taste like a luscious candy, and as such are mostly reserved for straight snacking. They can be tough to find in stores because they're quite fragile and can collapse during shipment, but if you live in California, you can likely find them at their most moist at farmers markets in the late summer or early fall. Alternatively, you can also enjoy Barhi dates at an earlier stage of ripeness, called khalal, at which point they taste like crunchy yellow apples.
Halawi dates are small and buttery, with a deeply caramel flavor and a texture that almost melts in your mouth. It's another variety that often gets compared to candy; Associate editor Joe Sevier made a batch into [ice cream](https://www.instagram.com/p/CE2bS-6D3q0/) this summer with great success.
Khadrawi dates are quite gooey and very sweet—more straight-up sugary than caramelly, and prone to sugaring. They are a great date for baking with and to add to smoothies and shakes, as even just one date packs a supersweet punch.
