I’ve always thought of dates as a dry fruit, so when I saw this packet labelled ‘fresh dates’ on the shelf of the local grocery store, I had to pick it up.
As you’d expect, the dates of the fresh variety don’t taste at all like the dates of the shriveled, dried variety. But what was surprising was that they tasted like something familiar and yet something I couldn’t quite place. I’ve settled on a cross between India Jujube (ber, बेर, Ziziphus mauritiana) and Sugarcane for now.