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A date is the sweet, edible fruit that grows on date palm trees. Dates have been an important food source for thousands of years, especially in Middle Eastern and North African regions, and are still widely eaten fresh, dried, or used in cooking and baking today.
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Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the region from the Gulf States to Pakistan. It is cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South and Southeast Asia, Portugal, Spain, coastal Mediterranean basin, and the desert regions of Southern California. It is naturalised in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. P. dactylifera is the type species of genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms.
Date palms reach up to 30 metres (98 ft) in height, growing singly or forming a clump with several stems from a single root system. Slow-growing, they can reach over 100 years of age when maintained properly. Date fruit (dates) are oval-cylindrical, 3 to 7 centimetres (1 to 3 inches) long, and about 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, with colour ranging from dark brown to bright red or yellow, depending on variety. Containing 63–64% sugar by mass when dried, dates are consumed as sweet snacks on their own or with confections.