A Date with Dates in Qatar

 

A date with dates in Qatar

Dates had been a precious food item in my childhood, rarely did that become part of our 'food'.  When we got it, it was kind of festival bonanza - it was when guests came or during the local Church festivities, that we purchased dates.  In the northern part of India, especially in Gujarat region, where khajoor is cultivated, it is usually eaten in the raw form, which has its own taste, but it usually leaves your mouth and throat dry.  I thought perhaps, the dates of India were not fit for eating ripened or there was some additional processing required for getting it sweet and soft to be eaten - something like the 'coronda' being treated in sugar syrup to make it sweet like a cherry!

When I arrived in Qatar in mid-March, it was the beginning of the spring here. Cool and pleasant. And the date palms all around the town were in inflorescence. I never had an opportunity to witness this before.  The palms of various sizes and shapes dot the town all across.  They appear to a Malayali eye, sometimes like a coconut palm.  But they are not Cocos nucifera, but Phoenix dactylifera.  A tree count by a research of 2010 revealed the presence of 581, 336 palms - almost 1 date palm for every five residents (not citizen; they are just about 4 lakhs). 

Qatar, notwithstanding its small size, is one of the biggest producers of dates globally with almost 22000 mt of production as early as 2010.  I hear that there are big orchards of date palms in Shamal region of Qatar - yet to be explored. Around 2000 ha. or more are used for growing date-palm, and the climate changes, pest related problems are also on the increase.  For better harvests, one male plant for 20 female plants is suggested (though it is said that one male plant is sufficient to pollinate 50 to 100 female plants), and in some cases, human assisted pollination is also introduced. 

Now in June, I am delighted by the sight of ripening dates all around. They turn from green to yellowish green, then yellow, then red or purple.. Many would care to protect the bunches with a net, lest the dates, on ripening fall off, and get spoilt on the ground. Now is the time they are changing colour!  By July they should all be ripe and ready for harvest.  While that happens, all the  public places, where dates get ripened, people are free to pick them, with their hands, but without using knives or instruments.  Once they ripen, become sweet and soft, they are harvested and sun-dried for storage and future usage. In the rich homes, where there are trees aplenty, the harvest of the previous year helps them through their needs of the fruit for the whole year and beyond, unless sold off. With 5 to 10 dates, you can very well manage to substitute your lunch into a green, fiber-rich, healthy and carbon-neutral diet. Even for a diabetic patient, this is a fitting food or snack consumed in moderation, say 3 per day. During the dates harvest season, around mid-July, there is a date festival in Qatar. I am waiting for that to happen this year. 

The popular varieties that appear at the fest are said to be the following ones:

1.   Khudri dates moderately sweet with a bit flaky outer appearance, uniform dark brown colour and not too wrinkly on the outside.

2.   Zahidi,  one of the roundest types, golden exterior, sweet and medium-sized appearance

3.   Safawi dates, a favourite in Ramadan times – a special variety that melts in your mouth quickly, brownish-black in colour,  with a soft, semi-dried and wrinkly exterior but not flaky.

4.   Sufri dates,  soft, a little dry on the mouth and very chewy. Juicy, golden brown colour and  believed to have medical benefits like controlling constipation and intestinal disorders.

5.   Khalas dates, most popular, oblong in shape and reddish in colour.

6.   Shishi dates, sweet to sour and feel dry when eaten. Said to be rich in fibre and a great antioxidant for the body.

7.   Khenaizi dates the most commercialised type of dates. Recommended eating them fresh rather than dried.

8.   Barhy dates with rare syrupy rich characteristic and soft feeling when eaten. considered the softest dates and the most fragile of dates.

With the new market trends, product diversification is made by offering dates with chocolate, dates with dried fruits inserted, date paste, dates in cake, dates slush, dates candy etc. In the Indian sub-continent there is the practice of adding dates to make plum cakes.  But dates pickle has become a hot favourite, with Biriyani, especially in Keralam.

Dates dotting this arid region, is indeed a beautiful sight - a soothing green in the desert!  Land plots empty of any green shrub, are converted into green canopy studded verdant pieces by planting grown up and fruit bearing trees.  They get rooted and appear natural in the spot in the span of about 6 months to 1 year.  That doesn't sound all that natural.  But that is how this oil/gas rich country tries to make its desert region green. I don't exactly know the process.  It is said that they are planted in a nursery, in a conducive environment and as per demand are distributed all around. But I feel concerned, with the acute water shortage and total dependence on desalination, whether they can be grown sustainably. 

When we tried a green drive of the school campus in connection with world environment day, from our dream target of 20 palms this year, we had to be satisfied with just 3 date palms, as each of the palms came with a tag of 3500 QR. 2 Washingtonia filifera palms planted last year, cost just about 50 QR, but are still remaining at less than 2 feet high indicating the need for other measures for greening this region. Plants just don't grow with a pace we expect. The usual saplings planted remain stunted in the adverse climate.  Hence  perhaps, the need to plant grown up trees. 

Definitely, those who are residents here, observe that over the decades as Doha grew into an urban space, its greenery also has increased. The Qatar government has listed among its four pillars of development, environment development as the fourth pillar, which has tree plantation as a major component - 10 million trees as part of sustainable development goals target 2030!  

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10221298843441213&id=1251360683  

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0eqtGqZUW3EARQnL4ykNXtaLQSY9VCRxhRWkGZTpqBs6RY7cM33NsNWdCLRHAD7zhl&id=1251360683