DATE VARIETIES 229 



figures of the production, that in the former country 

 there are at least 350,000 palms of that sort; 

 in Tunisia Gallois* calculates that ten per cent of the 

 2,000,000 palms are Deglet Nurs. Nevertheless, the 

 production can hardly meet the demand for this date 

 from European markets. 



It is of medium size, very sweet, with a delicate 

 and particularly mild flavor in which the characteristic 

 taste of the date is lacking, so that it is more like a 

 confection than a fruit. Its defects are a tendency 

 to ferment after it has been kept for some months, 

 and the immense amount of heat needed to mature 

 it properly. In fact, there is perhaps no date in 

 America which needs a more prolonged high 

 temperature, and for this reason its growth will 

 never be profitable except in a few favored regions 

 such as the Salton Basin of California. 



Unless carefully handled the date is soft and 

 sticky, but if well cured, or if ripened artificially, its 

 consistency is entirely satisfactory. The Arabs most 

 fear a rain when it is ripening; this spoils the appear- 

 ance of the dates and makes them unsaleable for fancy 

 trade, so they are pressed tightly into skins, and 

 within a few months begin to ferment, acquiring a 

 pineapple flavor which is much appreciated by the 

 poor nomad who buys them at bargain prices. In 

 America they can be saved, if struck by rain, by 

 quick artificial ripening, which, however, darkens 

 their color and destroys most of the distinctive flavor. 

 Much of the fruit offered for sale in Algerian markets 

 is a disgusting, syrupy mass, but the variety, like 

 many other soft dates, can also be marketed as a dry 



*GalIois, Eugene. L'Olivier et le Palmier en Tunisie. Bui. Soc. 

 de Geog. Commerciale, t. XXXII, p. 465. Paris, 1910. 



