Halawi
Phoenix dactylifera · Fruit
Top 10 pairings
Halawi — the name means "sweet" in Arabic, and the cultivar earns it — is a small, soft, golden-amber date prized as one of the most honey-sweet of all varieties. Native to the date orchards of Iraq, it is a semi-soft fruit with thin, wrinkled caramel-coloured skin over tender, syrupy flesh that tastes of pure honey and butterscotch with a gentle malty finish.
Picking a good onedrag
Crisp, yellow, astringentHard, sugared or fermenting
GlossyPeak eatingEat as they are, stuffed with almond, walnut or blue cheese.
SkinGlossy amber-brown, skin whole
SqueezeGives right through, springs back
SmellHoney, brown sugar, some caramel
Stem endSmall dry cap still tight in place
These cues are Date's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
92%
Edible part
24 g flesh · one hard pit, 8% of it
26 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 6× longer than the counter.
70-75%
Humidity
Sealed, not vented
Airflow