Moroccan Dates

What it is

Dates are the fruit of the date palm, and Morocco grows its own across the pre-Saharan oases rather than importing them. Each oasis prizes particular cultivars: Mejhoul (Medjool) is the famous large, soft, caramel-rich 'king of dates'; Boufeggous is the beloved everyday date, firm, amber and reliably sweet; Bouskri, Jihel, Aziza Bouzid and Bouittob each have their devotees and their textures, from soft and syrupy to dry and chewy.

The Tafilalet (Erfoud, Rissani) and the Draa valley (Zagora) are the great date regions, and Erfoud's date festival each autumn marks the harvest. Because dates span the range from luxury gift to daily staple, they sit squarely in the pantry pillar — a fruit, a sweetener and a snack all at once.

Softer varieties are eaten fresh from the harvest; the rest are dried for keeping and are what you mostly meet on the market pyramids year-round.

In the Moroccan kitchen

The most sacred use is breaking the Ramadan fast: the first thing eaten at sunset is traditionally a date (often with a glass of milk or a bowl of harira), following the Prophet's example. Year-round, dates are offered to guests as a gesture of welcome, eaten alongside mint tea, and folded into sweets like sellou.

In savoury cooking they sweeten and thicken tagines — lamb or beef with dates, and festive dishes where dried fruit meets spiced meat. Softer Mejhoul dates are stuffed with almond paste or walnuts as a petit-four, chopped into stuffings, or blended into date syrup and smoothies.

Firm Boufeggous-type dates hold up in cooking and travel well; soft Mejhoul are best eaten out of hand or stuffed, where their texture is the whole pleasure.

• Breaking the Ramadan fast, with milk or harira
• Offered to guests with mint tea as a welcome
• Lamb and beef tagines sweetened with dates
• Mejhoul stuffed with almond paste or walnuts as a sweet
• Sellou, date syrup, smoothies and energy snacks

How to choose & store

Good dates look plump and glossy with taut, unbroken skin, and feel soft or supple depending on the variety — never rock-hard, shrivelled or fermented-smelling. A light natural sheen of the date's own sugars is fine; a heavy white crust or sticky, boozy aroma suggests they are old or have been sugar-treated. Ask to taste, and notice whether they are pitted.

Choose by use: soft Mejhoul for eating and stuffing, firmer Boufeggous and similar for snacking, cooking and carrying home. Buying loose from a busy stall usually means fresher fruit than pre-packed boxes.

Buying it in Marrakech

What to look for at the stall — and how to buy well without invented prices to anchor you.

• Buy loose from the dried-fruit and nut stalls, where you can see and taste the different varieties side by side rather than buying a sealed box blind.
• Ask for varieties by name — Mejhoul for a treat, Boufeggous for everyday — and ask where they are from; Tafilalet and Zagora are the signs of good origin.
• Look for plump, glossy, unbroken fruit; skip dates that are dusty, cracked, heavily sugar-crusted or smell fermented.
• Taste before buying — a good seller offers one — and check whether they are pitted if you want them for cooking.
• Firm varieties travel home best; if you want luxury Mejhoul as a gift, buy them close to leaving and keep them cool.

Substitutes

• For cooking, any good soft date (Deglet Nour, imported Medjool) substitutes for Moroccan varieties, matching soft-for-soft and firm-for-firm.
• In tagines, dried apricots or prunes give a comparable sweet, fruity note if dates are unavailable.
• For sweetening, date syrup or a mash of soaked dates replaces some sugar or honey in bakes and drinks.