Title: Need a 'Hot Date' for Valentine's Day?

[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: Citysong]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Now, this Valentine's Day, we've got a hot date in studio. No, not Pedro Pascal. Although one can only hope. I mean, actual dates, the fruit. Rawaan Alkhatib is an illustrator and author of a new cookbook called Hot Date!: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, from Party Food to Everyday Feasts. In the book, we learn about the ancient history of dates, dating back to when evidence suggests humans started planting date trees 7,000 years ago. There are these classic recipes like bacon-wrapped dates, there's hot cheese dates, and a recipe, who can forget the quintessential California date shake. Rawaan Alkhatib is here in studio to discuss and to take your calls. Hi, Rawaan.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Hi, Alison.

Alison Stewart: You grew up in the United Arab Emirates

Rawaan Alkhatib: Yes.

Alison Stewart: What did the role of the date play in your life?

Rawaan Alkhatib: They were omnipresent. Dates are everywhere there. People grow dates in their gardens. My parents have date palms in their gardens, and they're kind of the only fruit that successfully grow there. They're also just around every day. We eat them all the time. People give dates as gifts to each other. In the lead-up to Ramadan, and during that month in particular, dates are the first thing you eat to break your fast. There are billions of people around the world consuming dates at the same moment as the sun sets. It's a very powerful thing to think about.

Alison Stewart: When you write about the history of dates in your book, how far back do they go?

Rawaan Alkhatib: As you said, there is evidence of dates being planted around 7,000 years ago, deliberately wild dates, probably even longer than that. We've grown with dates as a species for a very, very long time and deliberately cultivated them as a way to keep ourselves fed, keep ourselves interested in the food that we're eating. They're very sweet, which, of course, we all respond to. Those varieties are still-- they last a very long time.

Alison Stewart: Who were they served to? Were they for special occasions? Were they for every day?

Rawaan Alkhatib: They're both. That's one of the amazing things about dates is that they are absolutely a special occasion treat, but they're also things that sustain life. If you think about the Arabian Peninsula and what a harsh environment it is, the places that dates grow, there's a saying that date palms grow best when their feet are in the water surrounding an oasis and their heads are in the fires of hell. They grow in very hot places. I know it's quite dramatic.

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Rawaan Alkhatib: They do really well in places where little else grows. They've sustained people because of that as an everyday food. A block of dates, a little bit of ghee, and maybe the milk from your camel will get you across the desert of the Empty Quarter. They're really a very powerful fruit.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, we want to hear from you. What's your favorite recipe to eat or cook with dates and why? Our phone number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Maybe you grew up with dates because they're part of your culture. Tell us about your nostalgia eating dates. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Do you have a favorite date variety? Do you have a recipe you like or maybe you know nothing about dates and you have a question? Our phone number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. There are so many different kinds of dates.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Could you just list a few for our listeners?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Sure. Many of your listeners are probably familiar with the Medjool. That's the one that you go into the grocery store and you see these big plump dates. That's the Medjool. It comes from an oasis in Morocco, and it has this beautiful backstory where it nearly went extinct. It actually was brought to California and then propagated there and then brought back to North Africa so that it didn't die out. It has this really roundabout way. It's the date that's most grown in the United States.

Alison Stewart: Ooh, I'm going to Morocco. Will I find them there?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Yes. In Arabic, people still call them Majhool, which means unknown, because they're from an unknown date variety.

Alison Stewart: Majhool. Making a note to myself. Continue, please. [laughs]

Rawaan Alkhatib: Those are the ones that you probably have seen somewhere, but there are so many. In the UAE where I grew up and in that part of the world, the halas is the date that is the best known and is known as the quintessential date. That's the one that's the dateiest date. It's given as gifts. I really like sukkari dates, which means sugary. They have a texture that's a little crystal. There's a bit of crystal in it. When you bite down, they're a little hard and then yielding, and they taste like salted caramel. There are some amazing dates that are grown out in California.

There's the black gold date by Sam Cobb, who's the only black date farmer out there as well. They have this mysterious taste that no one can put their finger on. It's like, is it coffee? Is it cherry? Is it vanilla? What is it? They're great. He'll take you on a tour of his date farm anytime if you're out in the Coachella Valley. There are thousands and thousands.

Alison Stewart: It's so interesting. Before you even get to recipes, I think it's like page 51, before you even get to recipes, there's so much to talk about. What did you want to express in those first 50 pages of your book?

Rawaan Alkhatib: I think I just wanted to show the richness of-- 7,000 years is a long time for anything. There are so many different types of dates. The process of growing dates is very labor-intensive. They have to be pollinated by hand. Millions and millions of trees are all hand-pollinated. I really wanted to show how complex it is to get something from a tree to your plate without being super didactic about it. I mean, it is didactic because it's 50 pages of information about dates.

Alison Stewart: Beautiful illustrations, might I say.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Thank you so much. I had a lot of fun doing this.

Alison Stewart: We got an Instagram that says, "Happy Valentine's Day, Alison. These are raw vegan cashew cheesecakes sweetened only with dates." We also got a text that says, "Medjool dates as a filling for cinnamon buns healthier than brown sugar." Someone else saying, "I'm making date nut bread right now. It's my mother's recipe and I eat it with cream cheese." That sounds really good. I want to go back to the pollination because the dates can have several stages of ripeness and it can be up to a seven-month process. Could you walk us through that briefly?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Sure. Right around this time of year, in a couple of weeks, is when, in warmer places than New York City, the dates are pollinated and pollen from male date flowers is taken and inserted into the female flowers. It's, like I said, a very labor-intensive process. It's done by hand. The female trees are the ones that carry the variety. They are the ones that dictate what type of date it is. Then over the next few months, these tiny little green buds grow and start to turn into, depending on the variety, long or round or otherwise shaped dates.

Most dates, you have to ripen fully before we as humans can eat them and consume them. There are a few varieties like the Barhi, which is available in the US, and others like the Zaghloul or the Lulu, which is one that we have in our garden. You can eat them when they're still crunchy. That's in the late summer, early fall. They have this crispy texture that's-- it's a bit like an apple, but they taste almost like coconut water. It's very unusual. It's nothing like what you think of when you think of a dry brown date. You can harvest those from the tree, eat them raw. They have a slight tannic quality to them.

Then later in the fall, that's when they ripen fully. They're harvested in several stages because they don't all ripen at the same time. They're thinned out and they ripen on the tree, so they come to you in the form that they would be on. There's a rutab stage, which is when they're fully ripe and not completely dry. They're like custard. They're so soft and luscious and just they melt in your mouth. Worth seeking out at that point for sure.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Rawaan Alkhatib. The name of her book is Hot Date!: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, from Party Food to Everyday Feasts. We want your calls. We want to know what recipes that you like that include dates. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Let's talk to Hoda from the Upper West Side. Hi, Hoda. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Hoda: Hello, good afternoon. Ramadan Kareem in advance to your guest.

Rawaan Alkhatib: To you.

Hoda: Thank you. Thank you for hosting this. I will tell you, I think the date is the most underrated and most valuable fruit there is. Dates are also very critical for pregnancy. When I was expecting with my two children, it was always customary that leading up to the due date and also postpartum, you would have a lot of dates because of the nutritional values that they have in terms of repairing the body but also helping with milk production. It's very customary culturally that when a woman just gives birth, that you present her with dates, not only as an acknowledgment or form but also to help with her healing. It's a good tip to share with your guests or your expectant parents.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much for calling. Let's talk to Judy in the Bronx. Hi, Judy. Thank you so much for joining us. You're on the air.

Judy: Thank you. I'm holding a jar of Ceylon premium date syrup. It's a very popular item in Israeli cuisine. I wondered if you had a recipe that you could suggest using this Ceylon.

Alison Stewart: What do you think?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Oh, sure. Ceylon is one name for a date molasses. There are a lot of different particular varieties from all across date-growing regions. There are a ton of date molasses recipes in the book. One that I will recommend right now, it's winter season, it's flu season, is-- I like to call it a winter elixir. You can blend date molasses with some turmeric, some powdered ginger, a little bit of coconut oil or olive oil, just a little bit, and black pepper, and mix it all into a paste. Then you can keep that in a jar at your desk or in the kitchen. When you feel a little tickle in your throat or a little tingle coming on, just pour some hot water, and stir a spoonful of that in, and then add a big squeeze of lemon. It is so satisfying and warming and soothing. The date syrup really helps keep things going.

Alison Stewart: I read in your book that the old houses on the Arabian Peninsula, they have molasses rooms.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Do they use them or is it historical?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Most people don't, but there are still some places who do. The date, it's really hard to overstate the importance of it to families who are very much from there. My parents came to Dubai and so they brought their own cultures with them, but for people who are of the region, dates are truly a sacred fruit. Life revolved around them. They had special rooms in their homes to make date molasses that sloped down into the center so that the dates would compress themselves under the weight of their own juices to create this date syrup.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Dominique from Brooklyn. Hi, Dominique. Thank you so much for calling All Of It. You are on the air.

Dominique: Hi. Thank you for having me. Ramadan Kareem to those who celebrate. I lived in Indonesia after college and I followed the fast for the two years I was there. We used to break fast with coconut milk and bananas and, of course, dates, so I fell in love with dates then. Then when I moved to New York in 2009, I became a runner. I always run. I do all my races with dates. Just wanted to give a shout-out to how awesome dates are. I think they're the perfect running food. You don't need to get all those packets that pollute and everything. That's my shout-out. [chuckles]

Alison Stewart: Love it. We got Bill calling in from Bloomfield. Hi, Bill. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Bill: Thanks, Alison. I'm a daily listener. Love your show. I have a date recipe that I've been making for years. Family and friends all love it. It's bacon-wrapped dates. I stuff the dates with Roquefort cheese and a pistachio and a wedge of dried apricot, wrap it in bacon, and cook it for about 30 minutes.

Alison Stewart: Love hearing that. That's actually the first recipe in your book.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Yes, it is. It's because who doesn't love a bacon-wrapped date? When you're at a party and they start getting passed around, is anyone ever sad to be like, "Oh, a bacon-wrapped date"? They're delicious. I recommend also if you can find lamb bacon. The one thing my editor, who I adore, had a lot of really good suggestions, but at one point she was like, "There is too much lamb in this book." [laughs] I do just want to say that if you can find lamb bacon, it is an unusual addition. Ask your local butcher, you never know, they might make some.

Alison Stewart: Your next recipe under party food is Tahini-drizzled dates. It sounds like it's kind of easy.

Rawaan Alkhatib: It's extremely easy. I hope that a lot of the recipes in here are quite simple because dates themselves--

Alison Stewart: Need drinking water?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Yes. I'm going to take a sip.

Alison Stewart: Okay. This is Rawaan Alkhatib. The name of the book is Hot Date!: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, from Party Food to Everyday Feasts. Go, go.

Rawaan Alkhatib: [laughs] Tahini-drizzled dates. It's so simple, but it's like magic. You use two ingredients. You spread your dates out on a platter. The squishier, the better. Any dates will do. Tear them apart, take the pit out, and then drizzle them with tahini. That's it. Try one and thank me later.

Alison Stewart: All right. Let's talk breakfast. You have a recipe you say is the hottest hot pink drink. This is dragon fruit and cardamom smoothie. All right. Tell us how you get to the pink. Also, why are dates so good for smoothies?

Rawaan Alkhatib: I'll get to the pink in a second. Dates and smoothies, I find, add a bit of sweetness without being overwhelming. They add fiber. They just make for a texture that I find really pleasing. I really like throwing a date into whatever smoothie I'm making because they add this caramel undertone that feels luxurious. It feels like the smoothie you're drinking is a treat as opposed to something you're doing just for health's sake. This pink drink in particular is one of the ones that I love to make in the wintertime because a little color on a gray day just sets the tone. You can find frozen pink dragon fruit in a lot of grocery stores. It's the pink kind that really does the trick. It's a very mild and sweet fruit. It doesn't add a ton in terms of flavor.

Alison Stewart: You get that pink.

Rawaan Alkhatib: You get that pink. Exactly. Fresh dragon fruit is a whole other beast, but it's that pink dragon fruit, some banana, some dates, and then you throw in a little bit of freshly cracked cardamom or cardamom powder, whatever you have at home, and coconut water, and it just-- All of those things together make something really special. It feels like a real treat to start your day.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Priya, who's calling us from Princeton. Hi, Priya. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Priya: Hi, thanks so much for taking my call. One of my oldest and fondest memories of dates is back in India, which is where I grew up. During the Hindu celebration, a festival of Diwali, we'd exchange nuts and dried fruits. Those dried fruits included apricots, figs, and dates. Dates were, by far, my favorite. Fast forward, and I visit Dubai, UAE back in the '80s, and I got introduced to dates. As your guest said, it's omnipresent. I was like, "Wow, this is what a date is all about." On subsequent trips, I got introduced to Bhatia dates. I was like, "One just can't cook with this."

Back in Princeton, as we had wine and cheese parties, I started to have date and sherry parties, introducing my friends to what a true date is all about. It's just so delicious. As much as I loved my memories in India and got introduced to it, I didn't really know what I was missing out on until I visited the Middle East.

Alison Stewart: Thank you for calling us, Priya. I got a text here that says, "What's the best way to rehydrate dates?"

Rawaan Alkhatib: Oh, well, put them in a small bowl with some warm water and let them sit. Depending on what you need them for, if you do that, they won't be as pleasant to eat out of hand, the way Priya described, the luxurious dates that you don't want to cook with. Once you've rehydrated them, you would probably want to use them in baked goods or in a cooked dish. If you need to get them really soft, add a little bit of baking soda, and that will help tenderize the date flesh.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk about hot cheese dates. You like to make these.

Rawaan Alkhatib: I really do.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: How is it made?

Rawaan Alkhatib: This is a very short, cheesy dough that has-- I like to add a little bit of spicy smoked paprika to it as well. Then you wrap that around a little nugget of date flesh and bake them in the oven until they're crispy and cheesy and warm. You put those out on a platter and you serve them at a party, and they just disappear from the plate. People love them, as do I.

Alison Stewart: You have winter mains that you suggest for people. One of them is a double ginger carrot soup. That sounds fantastic. Where do dates factor into the soup?

Rawaan Alkhatib: One of the things about carrot soup that I really love is that there's this inherent sweetness to carrots and other root vegetables. The dates help coax that out, especially if you're looking at these overwintered carrots that are not necessarily at their peak. You want to get that feeling of a bright, freshly carrot that you pulled out of the ground. Adding in dates helps to coax that out of the carrots.

Alison Stewart: Let's try to talk to-- Is Elizabeth from Ridgewood, New Jersey there? Hi, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: Yes.

Alison Stewart: You're on the air.

Elizabeth: Thank you for taking my call. My story is that I was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania with a father who didn't like sugar, so he used to bring in dried fruits, and one of them was dates, which he ate with peanut butter or almonds inside. As I got older, I discovered a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens called Lumberjack cake. It has, as an ingredient, dates, so I was delighted.

Alison Stewart: You nodded your head in agreement, Rawaan.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Lumberjack cake is one of those-- It's a regional variation. I want to say it's Canadian. It's in the family of a sticky toffee pudding, but it has a crunchy coconut topping. I'm a little uncertain because I didn't end up including it in the book, but it was one of the many rabbit holes that I was going down, and you reminded me that I have been meaning to try it. There are a lot of delicious date cakes.

Alison Stewart: You've got something in here called hot date butter. Is it literally dates and butter?

Rawaan Alkhatib: It is. There are a few other things as well. There's a lot of garlic and herbs, and it makes-- A friend of mine texted me this morning and said, "I just made the hot date butter, and I licked the bowl."

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Rawaan Alkhatib: Then there's a recipe in here for tater tots tossed in that hot date butter, which is a nice, high, low combination. It makes for this very buttery, garlicky deliciousness. The same friend also said that she nearly came to blows with her spouse over the last tot.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] We've talked about how easy it is to cook with dates. What do you think is probably the most sophisticated or most difficult dish you have in here?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Oh, that's a wonderful question. I do think some of the long-cooked dishes are a bit trickier in the sense that you are setting it and forgetting it, but then at the last moment, making sure everything's perfectly calibrated is important. There's a dish that is these poussins, or young chickens, on a bed of spiced rice, and they're brushed with a date molasses glaze. It is complex in that there are a lot of different ingredients. They're topped with this seedy rubble that makes for a very crunchy-- like little pops of fireworks on top of this big mountain of rice and chicken. Getting the glaze on there and making sure it doesn't burn and everything's coordinated at the last moment to come out as this feast dish is worth the effort, but it is some effort.

Alison Stewart: I'm looking at your hand, and I noticed in your two rings. Is that you on the cover?

Rawaan Alkhatib: That's me on the cover. [laughs] For the listeners, I'm wearing big rings. I am a big ring lady, for sure. Yes, those are my hands all throughout the book, actually.

Alison Stewart: How should I work dates into my Valentine's Day celebration?

Rawaan Alkhatib: Ooh. I think a lot of people like to think of Valentine's and chocolate as a perfect pair and dates and chocolate as a perfect pair. There's a recipe for truffles that have dates layered into them where you can't really tell that you're eating dates exactly, but they make the chocolate more chocolatey. If that is what your valentine wants, that's what you should get them.

Alison Stewart: The name of the book is Hot Date!: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, from Party Food to Everyday Feasts. It's by Rawaan Alkhatib. Thank you so much for coming to the studio.

Rawaan Alkhatib: Thank you, Alison.