DATE VARIETIES 261 



chestnut in color. Skin thin but fairly tough, 

 usually adhering closely to flesh but sometimes 

 loosely wrinkled in large, longitudinal folds. Flesh 

 three-sixteenths inch thick, soft in fresh specimens, 

 firm when they are well cured, but never hard or dry. 

 Seed large, fifteen-sixteenths inch long, three-eighths 

 broad, cinnamon brown to chamois in color, ventral 

 channel open and deep, germ pore slightly nearer 

 base than apex. Flavor sweet, slightly heavy but 

 not cloying. 



Few Algerian dates have more sub-varieties than 

 this — in California alone two palms have been grown 

 under the name, one of them producing a soft and the 

 other a dry date. In Algeria there are a dry date 

 known as "Medjel Kesseba" and a large and excellent 

 but very rare soft date known as the Kasbeh of 

 Bin Abdu-1 Aziz, which is longer, darker in color 

 (looking much like Yatimeh) and softer than Kasbeh. 

 The flesh is thicker and seed smaller, darker, and more 

 tapering, the germ pore nearer apex than base. The 

 skin wrinkles more profusely in longitudinal folds; 

 the flavor is milder. Despite its name, I do not 

 think this excellent date has any relationship to 

 Kasbeh. 



There is, however, another date which has 

 been introduced to California, which apparently has 

 a genuine relationship— Nakhleh Zlaneh (q.v.) which 

 in some districts is called Laun al Kasbeh, i.e., the 

 Color of Kasbeh, a word which suggests that it 

 originated as a seedling of the more famous variety. 



Finally, there is an excellent little dry date of 

 Algeria, which has also been introduced to California 

 but has not yet fruited, that is called Kasbet Amireh, 

 i.e., the Kasbeh of a woman named Amireh. This is 



