fruit salad with fresh dates / macedonia di frutta con datteri freschi

fruit fresh from the farmers market makes a great post-run salad
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The story told by Daniel Stone in his book The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats¹ is fascinating, at times riveting, and I found myself staying up late some evenings to read what would happen next. Before reading the book, I didn't know who David Fairchild was. Also, I didn't know who Frank Meyer was, though I am a great fan of the Meyer lemon, named after him; had never read the full story behind the Haas avocado; had no idea how Japanese cherry blossom trees had ended up blooming in Washington D.C. and wondered why a town in Southern California was called Mecca.

These are just a handful of the stories told in the book², which I recommend to all. In brief, David Fairchild went around the world looking for plants that could be grown in the US, with the stated goal of improving agricultural production in the country. In time, there were also others contributing to that work (Frank Meyer being one of them). The book narrates Fairchild's fascinating life, from his fateful encounter with millionaire Barbour Lathrop, who will finance a lot of his travels, to his marriage with the daughter of inventor Alexander Graham Bell, to his retirement in Southern Florida³ where he helped create a botanical garden which bears his name⁴.

fresh Yellow Barhi dates (Khalal stage) at the Berkeley farmers market⁵

The book details not only Fairchild's successes, but also the difficulties he surmounted in his quest and the opposition he faced in later years. Such opposition will not surprise us: importing live plants from around the world risks importing live pests with potentially devastating effects. Ironically, the person mainly responsible for stopping Fairchild's activity had been his best man. The two exposed their different point of views in articles published by the National Geographic Magazine. Fairchild's is titled Our Plant Immigrants⁶.

date palm in Thermal, CA

Of the many stories Stone recounts, one that particularly resonated with me is that of dates⁷. We spent the early days of this year in the Coachella Valley in Southern California, where date palms are everywhere. We also went through a town called Mecca and I wondered what connection to the famous Arabian city had prompted the naming^7,8.

Also, as I was reading the book, I encountered fresh Yellow Barhi dates at the Berkeley farmers market. I had never seen fresh dates up close and personal (the view from the bottom of a palm being the closest I had come to them before) and I had no idea you could eat them before they were completely brown. The sign in the photo from the market says "Traditionally served when half yellow and half soft." Before I purchased the branch in the photo below, I tasted one that was indeed half yellow and half soft: it was a revelation. Sweet, but not as sweet as a fully dried one, the date retained a bit of crunch and had a hint of coconut. 

fresh Yellow Barhi dates (Khalal stage)
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

It has taken my dates longer than I expected to reach the half yellow & half soft stage (called partially-rutab, where rutab is the final, soft stage⁹), but now they have finally started to do so and I appreciate that they are going slowly, so I get a couple a day ready to enjoy.

Fairchild introduced many types of fruit to the US (though his personal favorite, the mangosteen, never took hold here), so it was easy to decide to make a fruit salad (macedonia) for my breakfast (colazione) with fruit we eat because of his and his department's work and that is available now at the farmers market: Asian pear (pera asiatica), watermelon (cocomero), fig (fico), besides dates. Fairchild also tried to introduce the cashew tree, but domestic production never took hold, though consumption of cashew nuts (anacardi) did.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Fruit salad with fresh dates

Ingredients (serves 1):

• Half an Asian pear
  
• A wedge of watermelon (Orchid variety in my case)
• 1 fig (Turkish brown in my case: Fairchild introduced the Calimyrna fig)
  
• 2 fresh Bahri dates, half yellow and half soft OR two soft dates
• 1 teaspoon cashew butter (Chunky Almond, Cashew & Coconut Nut Butter¹⁰ in my case) diluted with 1 teaspoon water OR a drizzle of lime juice

If possible, choose all organic fruit.

Cut the Asian pear and watermelon into bite-sized pieces. Peel the fig and cut it into 6 pieces.

Cut the dates lengthwise, remove the pit and slice crosswise. Place all the fruit in a small bowl.

Drizzle the diluted nut butter (or lime juice) on the fruit and toss gently. Enjoy!

Best post-run breakfast ever, or delicious dessert.

The photo above shows the version with fully ripe dates and lime juice.

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¹ The book introduction on the author's website
² Articles talking about the book: on the Smithsonian website, on the NPR website, and an interview with Daniel Stone on CBS
³ This post includes recipes directly connected to the Kampong, the Fairchilds' home in Florida
⁴ The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden website
⁵ From Flying Disc farm in Thermal, CA
⁶ Fairchild's article Our Plant Immigrants published on the National Geographic Magazine in April 1906
⁷ This article on the NPR website contains some information on the establishment of date palms in the Coachella Valley of Southern California
⁸ Mecca, CA on wikipedia
⁹ This photo of Bahri dates shows the stages
¹⁰ The Cashew and You (article on the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden website)
11 I tasted the Chunky Almond, Cashew & Coconut Nut Butter from Ground Up at a farmers' market I visited while in Portland and fell in love with it. (Disclaimer: I have no business relationship with the company, Ground Up)

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

macedonia di frutta con datteri freschi

or launch the macedonia di frutta con datteri freschi audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

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This is also my second contribution to the 37th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 12 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

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And I am contributing my fruit salad also to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Cook the Books club co-host Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

The roundup of the event.

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FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

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Asian pear, watermelon, fig, dates, fruit, breakfast

Comments

[Claudia]

What a lovely salad Simona! I too enjoyed hearing of all the plant migrations to America. We do have date palms here, but I've never tried them at that fresh stage and will be looking out for some.

[Paz]

very interesting-sounding book. delicious-looking fruit salad bowl.

[Deb in Hawaii]

Those dates are so pretty and your fruit salad looks so delicious. Great review too. Such interesting facts. We're lucky to get mangosteen here in Hawaii although I first encountered them in the Philippines. Thanks for joining in and for sharing your salad with Souper Sundays too! ;-)

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Claudia :)
I was wondering it you could find some fresh dates there. Different varieties have different amount of astringent tannin, which dictates when they can be eaten, similarly to persimmons.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Paz :)

[Simona Carini]

The book was so fascinating!
I have never had a mangosteen, Deb, so I will look for it the next time I visit Hawaii: of course, after reading Fairchild's opinion, I am curious. And you are welcome :)

[Ali]

What a lovely salad! I wish I could find fresh dates where I live - maybe it’s time for a road trip to California! The section of the book about the dates struck a chord for me, too. My husband and I went on our first road trip from New Mexico to San Diego and stopped at a date farm on the way - the date milkshakes have always stayed in my memory.

[Wendy Klik]

I have never had fresh dates. I don't think I've ever seen them in any of the markets around here but, then again, I have never looked. I'm keeping my eyes open so that I can make this lovely salad.

[judee]

The book sounds like an interesting read! Thanks for the review and the lovely unique fruit salad. Fresh dates are hard to find, especially on the East Coast. I was looking for some last week for the Jewish New Year where it is traditional to eat a New Fruit at the dinner table for the New Year. We like to find fresh dates- we finally found some, but they were not ripe for the holiday!

[Simona Carini]

Dates from the farmer or at the farm are definitely a treat, Ali. A road trip to California sounds like a nice idea, any time of the year :)

[Simona Carini]

I hope you find some fresh dates, Wendy, and get to taste them :)

[Simona Carini]

It is, Judee: it offers a historical perspectives on some of the foods available in this country. I often read that a certain food originated elsewhere, but not often do I learn how it got adopted by both farmers and the public at large. Mine also took longer than expected and I almost did not make the deadline for the post. Now they are ripening and I get to eat a couple a day: what a treat :)

[Debra Eliotseats]

I learned a lot from the book as well and I also learned a lot from your post! I know I can't find the exotic fruit that you have available to you at the FM, but I am going to experiment with what I can find and use your dressing idea!

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Debra. The story of how palm dates came to be grown in Southern California is fascinating. I hope you can at least find different types of dates to taste :)