Ingredient Challenge Monday

This is Challenge #4!  It has been so much fun coming up with the ingredients, and seeing all the recipes whipped up by my foodie challengers. 

This week’s ingredient is…..

*DATES*

So after we decided other ingredient….it got me wondering.  What are dates?  Where do they come from?  I mean, I’ve heard of them, but never really dug into what a date is.  Does it grow on a vine? a tree? in the ground?  I know….I should already know this.

So I did a little reading and here’s what I found out:

• Dates grow on a tree called a date palm. 
• Dates dry in stages – and if they are allowed to dry (or ripen) on the tree for a long time, they develop sugar crystals on the outside. Interesting…sun-made candy? Nope, apparently at this point it tastes pretty much like leather.
• Date trees can stay in production for over 60 years.
• Dates are really berries.
• They contain more than 20 different amino acids.
• They contain selenium, which lowers the risk of certain cancers, boosts immunity, and heart-healthy.For some reason, I was thinking there was a link between dates and figs??  Anyway, enough of the education.

Here’s a run-down of our Ingredient Challenge history – make sure to check out our recipes if you haven’t seen them yet so you can keep up 🙂

Ingredient Challenge #1 – Pomegranate

Ingredient Challenge #2 – Kale

Ingredient Challenge #3 – Quinoa

Here’s where you need to go to see all the recipes:

Nutritionella

And Love It Too!

Marci Gilbert

From The Little Yellow Kitchen

Check back on Monday and see what we come up with!

Happy Weekend –

~Dixie Chik~