Dehydrated dates?

[stevek42]

What do dates do when you dehydrate them?

[Shona]

Dates are a dried fruit. Why would you want to dry them further? I imagine they would get really hard and be rather unpleasant to eat.

Shona :)

[Shona]

In my previous post I assumed you were referring to dried dates - I've never seen fresh ones available for sale anywhere. Can you buy fresh dates?

Shona :)

[stevek42]

I dunno...I was going to try using medjool dates...wondering what they'd be like further dehydrated.

[Allison]

The Date People sell fresh dates, and they are absolutely fantastic. They are sold out until September, though.

[RawTruth]

I buy fresh dates every Sunday at my local farmers market -- one variety is so soft it oozes. Yummy. They're grown in the area and the season has been going on for a while.

[Revvell]

I buy fresh dates every Sunday at my local farmers market -- one variety is so soft it oozes. Yummy. They're grown in the area and the season has been going on for a while.

Well, o.k., yet, what do dates do when you dehydrate them? Dance? Sing? Get lil, hard nubs? What?


:cool:

[stevek42]

I want to know if they get really hard but stay sweet. :)

[rawpriestess]

I thought this was a joke, I was waiting for the punch line.

I buy Medjool dates, and they are fresh.

When I make cakes or whatever out of them, they are really good,

When you dehydrate them in say a candy recipe or some such thing, they deffinitely keep their sweetness, but can get pretty chewy and hard.

Unlike honey, which never gets totally crispy or hard (always stays soft to some degree, as I dehydrated honey candy for 30 days once, ) YES, DAYS. and it still stayed sticky and gooey, although it was marvelous.
I just kept leaving it in the dehydrator while I was making other things.

Anyway, dates stay sweet, get sticky and chewy, and can crystalize, and get hard. UHMM er, I mean dry.

Dragggon likes them that way when he used to go camping, he would dry them (in the sun) and toss them in a cup of water in the wild. He loves dates, and figs and all that stuff.

I had never even tried a date until 2001. How sheltered was I?

[stevek42]

How long do you think it takes to crystalize a date? And no, that's not a joke either. :)

[rawpriestess]

Yes, I figured it wasn't a joke, I don't know how long it would take to crystalize, you could pop one in the dehydrator and try it.

Like I said, I know honey never gets hard, 30 days dehydrating and still chewy, LOL, but very good, and all.

Dragggon's been drying herbs in the dehydrator all week, and it's so hot here, he moved it out to the hot tub room, where it doesn't matter how hot it gets.

Anyway, so my dehydrator is full of green stuff, and will be probably for a few more months, he dehydrates tons of herbs. (okay maybe not tons, but bushels and pecks)

[stevek42]

That's alright, leave the dates to me. :)

That's unfortunate about honey, but not quite the taste I want anyways! Dates are great...as long as when they're done they come out nice and hard.