Surplus dates can be preserved for over a year

Dates can be preserved for one year without losing their nutritional value, revealed a study conducted by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).
KACST funded the SR 1.5-million study to find ways to preserve surplus dates without losing their original quality. Abdullah Al-Hamdan conducted the study on four types of dates, namely Sukkary, Baydh, Kalaas and Nabout Seif.
Date palms have long been cultivated in Saudi Arabia. Dates used to be a principle component of peoples’ diet in the country. Now, date palm cultivation is expanding and date production largely contributes to the agricultural economy of Saudi Arabia.
The Plant Production Department recognizes the importance of date palm trees since the establishment of the College of Food and Agricultural Sciences by emphasizing both education and research work on date palms.
The date palm research unit aims at promoting date palm agriculture through education, research and extension. Research programs tackle most of the problems facing date palm agriculture in collaboration with college departments and other national and international organizations dealing with date palms.
According to the study, dates can be effectively frozen during the first nine months from the date of production. Some studies showed that the Kingdom occupies first place in the world in terms of the average per-capita consumption of dates per year, which reached 34.8 million kg in 2003 according to the Food Agriculture Organization.
There is an emphasis on exports in view of increasing cultivation and surplus date production in the Kingdom. The Kingdom exports dates mainly to France, Germany and India. Tunisia, Algeria and Israel are potential competitors for the export of Saudi dates.