Dates
Dates are as old as the history of mankind. Dates have been basic food in the Middle East for thousands of years and it is know as "a tree of life". It is believed to have originated throughout the Middle East and the Persian Gulf and it was cultivated in ancient Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 6,000 BC.
For growing the date palm, a special climate is needed as local say: "the date palm needs its feet in the water and its head in the fire of the sky".
Dates are naturally lowest in moisture, grown in the arid desert. While most fruits range from 75 to 95 percent moisture, fresh whole dates are less than 30 percent moisture which makes them Nature’s only naturally dried fruit. About 400 varieties of dates are cultivated in Iran but only few of them are commercially important.
The date crop in Iran for all species (dried, semi-dried and fresh) during the farming year 2014-2015 was over one million tonnes. Iran shares 20 percent of the world date production and is the largest date producer in the world.
Iran produce 200,000 tonnes of dried date, 600,000 tonnes of semi-dried or fresh-to-dry date and 200,000 tonnes of fresh date in its 180,000 hectares of palm groves mostly situated in the provinces of Kerman(21.1%), Bushehr(13.4%), Khuzestan(17.6%), Fars (12.3%), Hormozgan(21.6%), and Sistan-Beluchestan(12.2%). The most exquisite species of dates are produced in Iran. Some of the important types of Iranian date are Piarom, Sayer, Mazafati, Zahedi, Kabkab, Rotab, Rabbi, Kalooteh and Shahabi.
Classification of the date by type:
- Dried Date: It refers to a ripe date which moisture is below 15%
- Semi Dried Date: It refers to a ripe date with the moisture between 15% to 18%
- Fresh Date: It refers to a ripe date with the moisture between 18% to 35%
In our production line, the first step is booking good fresh dates. Pariz Nuts group provides its dates from responsible farmers who have the contract with us. We believe main parameter "trustable goods will plant and provide with responsible farmers". Our approval farmers harvest their products on time in order to prevent products from any infection. They use confirmed methods which prevent their products from all kinds of pest. During pruning, they are careful about dry branches and remove all of them to prevent of occur of pest in summer. Finally, fresh dates load toward our processing plant with refrigerator trucks. Then dates are processed and graded. We at Pariz Nuts do manufacturing and export 3 kinds of dates as Piarom date, Sayer date, and Mazafati date.
Piarom
Piarom dates are known as the most luxury and expensive variety of Iranian dates that comes from Hormozgan province (Haji Abad area) in the south of Iran. It is meaty and Semi-Dry with 15% moisture and the harvest time is middle of September.
Sayer
Sayer or Esta’maran is one of the most abundant date species in Iran. It is slightly elongated, oval and typically dark brown colored and its cross section is yellow. An average weight of the fruit is 8.5 grams and kernel weight is 0.9 grams.
Mazafati
Mazafati is one of the most famous and delicious varieties of the dates. The color is black with the moisture content of 18-35%, it depends highly on the harvesting time and the place where the date grows.