Zahidi date
Phoenix dactylifera · Fruit
Top 10 pairings
The Zahidi is the pale golden workhorse of the date world — a plump, oval, semi-dry fruit of light amber-to-honey colour with a firm, chewy, almost crunchy bite and a gentle, nutty, lightly sweet flavour rather than the heavy toffee of the soft Medjool. One of the oldest and hardiest Iraqi and Iranian cultivars, it is sometimes called the "butter date" for its mild, rounded taste, and is grown in vast quantities for eating out of hand, for cooking and baking, and for pressing into syrup and sugar.
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