The national emblem of Saudi Arabia depicts the sweet mystery

On the national emblem of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a green tree occupies most of the emblem. This is a date palm tree, representing agriculture and oasis.

Date palms are not familiar to us, but in the Arabian region, dates are called "desert bread" and "green gold" - for thousands of years, they have provided energy for humans with up to 80% of the sugar in their fruits, making them the most important crop in the area.

The official version is all green｜Wikimedia Commons

Up to 80% sugar content

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is also known as palm date, Persian date, and Iraqi candied date. It was also named "Wulouzi" in Compendium of Materia Medica.

In the 1960s, date palms appeared in the Chinese market, but soon disappeared. But even if you have never eaten them, you have probably seen date palm trees. They are tall and big, with branches and leaves radiating from the trunk like iron trees. They are often mistaken for palm trees. Many parks and communities are decorated with this tall, elegant, and exotic tree .

You may have seen date palms as greening trees｜Wikimedia Commons

The date palm is indeed a species of palm, belonging to the genus Eryngium. The Latin name of the genus Phoenix means phoenix, probably because the stretched feathery branches and leaves are like the tail of the phoenix in the legend. The specific epithet dactylifera of the date palm comes from the ancient Greek word for "finger", because the fruit is slightly oval and long, and the size is about the same as a thumb.

The dates growing on the trees grow in clusters, and a tree can bear hundreds of kilograms of fresh fruit, which is very spectacular. In the hot and dry environment of the Middle East, the dates hanging on the trees can be dried by themselves and become dried dates. The dried dates change from full to dark, and the flesh becomes sticky and sandy. Without any additives, they can have the sweetness of candied fruit , and your hands are full of sugar after eating.

Fresh Date Fruits｜upcscavenger.com

It is not surprising that the sugar content of date palm juice can reach 70%-80% , while the sweetest Turpan grapes only have 30%. Date palms have completely surpassed the definition of "fruit". After a long history of selection and breeding, there are dozens of cultivated varieties of date palms. Their fruits are divided into two categories - soft and hard . Soft dates have high water content and less fiber. They can be eaten fresh or naturally dried and pressed into dried fruits; while the hard ones are called "bread dates" or "camel dates". As the name suggests, they are hard goods, extremely sweet, and very suitable for storage. Eating one will keep you going for a long time.

The secret of ultimate sweetness

Some people like this extreme sweetness, while others cannot accept it. The mystery behind the sweetness gives the date palm a rich cultural meaning. The date palm's homeland is in today's Mesopotamian Basin, and it has existed on the earth for nearly 50 million years. It is one of the first four domesticated fruit trees, and there are records of date palm cultivation in the Arabian region as early as 6000 BC .

It's all because of sweetness. Humans' obsession with sweetness is not without reason - carbohydrates are one of the main sources of energy. No matter how they are decomposed, they will turn into glucose and participate in energy exchange. Dates are a food with extremely high sugar content. An old date tree can even produce two or three hundred kilograms of heavy fruits , which can be dried naturally without worrying about spoilage. The high sugar content is naturally antibacterial . Dates are simply a tall and beautiful granary. Moreover, dates are full of treasures, from fruits to trunks, and are said to have 800 different uses.

In India, species of the same genus are also used to provide syrup | Wikimedia Commons

In fact, not only Saudi Arabia, but the history of the entire Arab world is connected with date palms . The Code of Hammurabi in ancient Babylon stipulated that anyone who cut down a date palm tree would be severely punished; the Quran discusses date palms at length, the "Tree of Life" in the Garden of Eden was a date palm, Jesus was not born next to a manger but under a date palm tree, and before giving birth to Jesus, Mary was instructed by God (Allah) to shake the date palm tree to eat some fruit to supplement nutrition.

The Islamic version of the Noah's Ark story also tells this story: After the great flood, Noah's descendants came to today's Medina (the holy city of Islam) and planted the first date palm tree here. (Islam and Christianity are religions of the same origin. Islam did not separate from Christianity until after 610 AD, so the biblical story that has been circulated has the same parts, but there are differences in some details.)

Dates gradually drying｜telegraph.co.uk

All of this is due to the secret of sweetness - sweet dates have become an important source of calories in the region and are even considered a staple food, enjoying a very high status.

In the Muslim tradition, fasting is done during the day in Ramadan, and the first thing to do after sunset is to eat a few dates to fill your stomach, which is actually very similar to eating chocolate. In addition, Arabs frequently trade between Europe and Asia, and dates, which are easy to dry, not easy to deteriorate, and easy to carry, have become an ideal dry food. Wherever the camel caravans in the desert go, there are traces of dates, and the date palm trees standing in the oasis are undoubtedly a symbol of life and energy.

Can the Tree of Life really give life?

Although in various records, dates are praised as a cure for all diseases, and pregnant women eat dates to help them give birth smoothly, and men eat dates to improve their sexual performance; in fact, apart from some common nutrients, dates do not have any so-called therapeutic effects . But in the past when people were hungry, many diseases were caused by weakness, and eating dates that are rich in energy can restore health, which makes sense.

Date shop in Kuwait | Wikimedia Commons

In addition to eating sweets to fill your stomach, in Arab tradition, sweet things, especially sugar, have a more important meaning. Before the British planted sugarcane all over the colonial plantations, sugar was a rare commodity. In its heyday, the Arab Empire acquired sugar-making technology from the South Asian subcontinent and the Persians, and monopolized the sugar trade route.

"Arabs carry sugar wherever they go, including the product itself and the production technology," Sidney Mintz wrote in "Sweetness and Power." "People say that wherever the Koran goes, sugar goes there." In the era when Europeans could not afford sugar and regarded it as a rare commodity, Arabs carrying a bag of sugar in one hand and dates in the other were probably something that people envied.

Saudi Arabia's "Date City" | Wikimedia Commons

Today, Saudi Arabia is still one of the countries with the highest production of dates in the world . Sugar is no longer a rare commodity, but dates as a food have been deeply imprinted in the local economy, culture and daily life. Putting one in your mouth, this natural and unprocessed dessert can still bring us happiness. This is the secret of sweetness.

Author: Li Zi