Dates are the easiest thing in a dry-fruit shop to sell badly, because a tired date and a fresh one look almost the same in a photograph. In person they do not. Here is what to check.
Press one
A good date gives under a thumb and comes back. If it stays dented it has dried past its best; if it feels hard in the middle it was picked early or has been sitting through a summer.
Look at the skin
Wrinkles are fine — dates are meant to wrinkle. What you do not want is a skin that has gone glassy and tight, or one weeping sugar in beads. Beading means the date has been warm and cold in turn, usually in transit.
Pull one open
The flesh should be one colour through. A dark ring around the stone, or a dry crumbly centre with a soft outside, means it has been rehydrated to look plump. That is a real practice and it is not always disclosed.
Smell the bag, not the date
A whole bag tells you more than one date. It should smell sweet and faintly of caramel. Anything sharp or fermented means moisture got in somewhere.
What we stock
Our khajur is bought by the lot from Iran and graded at our own table before it goes into a bag. Medjool for eating plain, Safawi and Kalmi for everyday, Ajwa for gifting. We open boxes and check them the same way we have just described, which is why we are comfortable telling you how.
Written at the counter in Salumbar, where these questions get asked every week.
