Badia Masabny

Star Maker of Cairo

BADIA MASABNY

In 1926 a woman of Levantine origin named Badia Masabny opened a nightclub in Cairo in the fashion of European cabarets. This nightclub, known as “Casino Badia”, and another club later established by Masabny, “Casino Opera”, was to have a profound influence on Middle Eastern Dance as we know it today. Many dancers have perhaps never even heard the name of this woman to whom we owe so much. Who was Badia Masabny?

According to her autobiography, which appeared in the book “Bauchtanz” by Dietlinde Karkutli, Badia Masabny was born in Damascus in 1894. At age of seven, Badia was raped by a cafe owner. After serving only 4 weeks in jail, the man’s life returned to normal. Badia's life, however, was changed forever, as she was no longer a virgin. To avoid the gossip and shame of it all, the Masabny family immigrated to Argentina. In school there, Badia was happy and discovered her love for acting, singing and dancing.

People 3000 years back already danced

The Masabny’s moved back to Syria when Badia was in her teens, and therefore of marriageable age, the events of the past were, however, not forgotten and the family had a hard time finding a husband for her. When Badia finally did get engaged, the neighbor informed the groom’s family about the rape and the groom broke off the engagement.

Feeling she had no chance in a place where everyone knew of her past, Badia decided to run away to Beirut. On the train, she met a nice woman who offered to take her in. Only in Beirut did Badia realize that this "nice woman" was the madam of a brothel! At this time, even women in the West had few opportunities for employment and so much the less in the Middle East. With no one to support her and no real skills, Badia tried to think of something she could do without having to sell her body. She turned to the two things she most loved: singing and dancing. When her mother arrived in Beirut to take her home, Badia persuaded her to accompany her to Cairo instead.

BADIA

Even then, Cairo was already famous for its culture, music and theatre. Badia found work playing small roles with the famous George Abiad Theatre Ensemble. She lied to her mother, telling her she had a night job as a seamstress. When the ensemble’s summer break arrived, Badia was offered a bigger role with a traveling theater troupe that was leaving for Said, Upper Egypt. When Badia’s mother learned the truth about her daughter’s employment, she insisted they return home to Syria. As the train that was to take them to Alexandria, where they would board a ship for Beirut, pulled into the station, Badia jumped to the other side of the tracks and ran away as fast as she could. She caught up with the traveling theater troupe just the day before they went on tour.

In 1914 Masabny went to Beirut to perform in the well-known theater of Madame Jeanette, a French woman who employed exclusively European artists to perform for a mostly upper-class Lebanese clientele. Badia convinced Madam Jeanette to let her sing and dance in Arabic. For her debut on September 14, 1914, accompanied by two Austrian women playing oud and qanoon, Badia performed a Syrian folksong, singing, dancing and playing cymbals all at the same time! At this time the female entertainers called Awalim were expected to be able to sing, dance, recite poetry and play musical instruments. Masabny continued this tradition and the audience was delighted. Badia was a big hit and became the feature act.

Summer Casino & Cabaret Badia

Masabny continued to work in Lebanon and Syria. While performing in Damascus, she was attacked and almost killed by her brother who believed he was defending the family honour. Badia eventually began working with the Egyptian comedian, actor, playwright and director, Nagib El Rihany, and his ensemble. Returning with them to Cairo in 1921, she became the star of the company. A passionate, but turbulent love story developed between Masabny and El Rihany and they eventually married. Although it was a troubled marriage, Badia was able to learn a lot about the theatre from her husband. After numerous breakups and reconciliations, Badia left him in 1926 and opened her own nightclub, called Casino Badia, on Emad El Din Street. (It should be noted that the term “cabaret” was never used in the Middle East except to describe a very low class establishment.  Nightclubs were at that time known as "sala".)

Naguib El Rihany

The nightclub was a huge success. Masabny created a program with both European and Arab artists performing short acts that appealed to European and upper class Egyptian tastes. Badia danced and sang several numbers herself. She and El Rihany got back together for a brief time, but then split again, this time for good. Badia moved her nightclub to a better location and named it "Casino Badia".

A diverse entertainment program featured local dancers, singers, musicians and comedians, as well as various European acts. There was even a matinee in the afternoon for women only. It was at this time that the traditional "Raqs Baladi" began to undergo significant changes.

The term Raqs Sharqi first came about when Egypt was occupied by foreign powers. "Raqs Sharqi", which actually translates as "Oriental Dance” or “Eastern Dance”, was used to distinguish the dance from European, or western, dances. ("Orient” as opposed to “occident”.) In the same way, “Raqs Baladi” was used to differentiate between "native" or "local" dance and foreign dances. At the time of Badia Masabny, the nightclub version of these dances was referred to as "Raqs El Hawanim" or "Dance of the Ladies". The late master instructor Nelly Mazloom once described “Raqs el Hawanim” as being the style that upper class women danced when amongst themselves at weddings and other gatherings.

She went on to describe how young girls sought the attention of potential mothers-in-law by dancing at weddings that were at that time still segregated. The girl sought to dance gracefully and elegantly while appearing refined and modest. Due to the fact that Masabny’s clientele were upper class Egyptians as well as foreigners, dancers deliberately tried to imitate the style of the upper class women. For this reason the dancing appears to be very restrained and subtle.

Old Casino Badia in Opera square - Cairo

Up to the 1920’s, dancers had performed mostly in private homes, in coffee houses or at outdoor religious festivals known as "mawalid" (plural of "mulid").Originally characterized by mostly hip and torso movements, the dance had usually been performed in small spaces. The dance, therefore, had to be adapted for the stage. Masabny employed western choreographers such as Isaac Dixon, Robbie Robinson and Christo, who added elements from other dance traditions, for example, the turns and traveling steps from western dance forms such as ballet and ballroom dance. The late master instructor and choreograph Ibrahim Akif, who also worked with Masabny, identified “shimmies”, undulating movements (including what we sometimes refer to as “camals”), circles and “eights”, as well as various hip thrusts and drops as being the original “Sharqi” or oriental movements. Ibrahim Akef also told me personally that, although the group dances were choreographed, most of the solo artists improvised. According to him, it was his first cousin, the dancer and actress Naima Akef, who was the first to completely choreograph her solo performances. As we all know, choreographing the opening number later on became a stand practice among the better-known Egyptian dancers.

The two-piece costume with beads and sequins, which we now associate inseparably with Oriental Dance, first appeared during this period, inspired by Hollywood films and European nightclubs such as the "Moulin Rouge". It might be added that the costumes were partially created to suit the tastes of European colonists, who didn’t find the original costumes revealing enough!

All went well, both professionally and privately, until Badia's nephew, Antoine, who had become her theater director and was married to her adoptive daughter, Julia, fell in love with Beba Azzadine, a dancer in Badia's ensemble. He and Beba left to open their own nightclub in the same style as "Casino Badia". In spite of this setback, Badia remained successful, constantly working to improve her program and always recruiting new talents.

Badia Masabny was a tough woman. According to Karin van Nieuwkerk in her book, "A Trade Like any Other", journalists wrote that Badia had no need for a bodyguard as she herself was one, even going so far as to threaten intrusive journalists with a gun. Perhaps her childhood had forced her to become tough.

Tahea Carrioca

In 1937 Masabny invested and lost all her money in a film project that flopped. She declared bankruptcy and left Cairo to tour Upper Egypt with her troupe. A young Tahia Carioca, still in her teens, was part of the entourage. In debt, Badia borrowed money to open up her biggest project yet: a nightclub with a movie theater, restaurant, cafe and an American-style bar. "Casino Opera" opened in 1940 and was extremely successful. World War II had broken out and the streets of Cairo were filled with English and French soldiers wanting to be entertained. This, of course, was a great opportunity for “Casino Opera" and the program was adapted to suit the soldiers’ tastes.

Due to the performance of a Hitler parody, however, Masabny was placed on Hitler's list of people to be executed once he took over Egypt. Fortunately, the Germans never made it to Cairo!

Farid El Atrash

The Egyptian film industry was flourishing at this time, producing countless musicals requiring singers and dancers. Many of the nightclub scenes in the films of this era were actually filmed in "Casino Opera" and many dancers were discovered there. The program in both "Casino Badia" and "Casino Opera" featured group dances. The more talented dancers were allowed to dance in front of the others and, if one of them went over well with the public, she earned the chance to be featured as a solo artist. Many dancers who started out as chorus girls ended up as soloists and many soloists ended up in films. Through exposure in these films, as well as in Masabny’s nightclubs, dancers achieved a celebrity status that could never have been achieved in the past.  

Naima Akef

The most famous of these dancers were Tahia Carioca and Samia Gamal, who became popular movie stars in Egypt, and Nadia Gamal, who later became a star in Lebanon. All these dancers and many others, including Ketty, Hoda Shamsadine, Hagar Hamdy and Naima Akef (although, according to Ibrahim Akef, Naima actually started in the nightclub of Masabny’s rival, Beba Azzadine), credited Masabny for helping them get started and for teaching them what they needed to know in the beginning of their careers. According to an interview with Nadia Gamal in Arabesque magazine, Masabny trained her dancers every afternoon at the Casino. She was an expert at "zaggat" (finger cymbals) and played them herself on stage. Not only dancers, but also many well-known singers and musicians, including Farid El Atrache and Mohamad Abdel Wahab, got their start with Masabny.

Nagwa Fouad

 Badia Masabny earned good money during the war years and Casino Opera continued to prosper after the war as well. In 1951 the Egyptian government demanded that Masabny pay £74,000 (Egyptian pounds) in back-taxes. It was impossible for her to come up with such a large sum of money without being ruined financially. She escaped from Egypt in a private jet and returned to Lebanon. There she bought a small farm in the north, where she, by her own account, lived the rest of her days in peace and tranquility. Badia Masabny passed away in 1975. Very similar details of her life are told in a 1975 film called “Badia Masabny”.

Samia Gamal

Samia Gamal While no one denies that Badia Masabny had a profound influence in the development of modern Raqs Sharqi, not everyone agrees if this influence was positive or negative. One school of thought maintains that her changes elevated the dance to a performing art for the stage. The other maintains that she degraded the original dance form by making the dance more sexually suggestive and by moving the dance into a nightclub setting to begin with. In any case, one can hardly imagine how the dance might have evolved without Badia Masabny!

Article written by Jalilah on Gilded Serpent.

 Edited and presented by Mike

Kushary

Among the inexplicable amalgam of sights, smells, and sounds that are modern Cairo is the extraordinarily simple taste of a workingman’s lunch called Kushary.

Hearty plate of Kushary

Kushary is sold in countless hole-in-the-wall cook shops scattered throughout the medieval warrens crowded with Cairo’s fourteen million people. Itinerant Kushary cooks also sell this rice, lentil, and macaroni dish from colourful hand-painted donkey-pulled carts throughout the working-class neighborhood of the city. Bicycles fitted with wooden boxes also crisscross the streets selling Kushary in plastic containers. However Koshari has it own fancy restaurants full of marble, brass utensils and shiny mirrors.

Kushari, also koshari (Egyptian Arabic: كشرى‎‎), is an Egyptian dish believed to be originally made in the 19th century, made of rice, macaroni and lentils mixed together, topped with a spiced tomato sauce, and garlic vinegar; garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. A sprinkling of garlic juice, or garlic vinegar, and hot sauce are optional.

The first written mention of Kushary is found in the diaries of the famed Muslim traveler of the fourteenth century, Ibn Battuta. In the mid-nineteenth century the famous British traveler and translator of Thousand and One Nights, Richard Burton, identifies Kushary in “the Suez”. Given Kushary’s relationship to mujaddara, a dish with roots in the tenth century, its history may be older and more Arab  than admitted.

Serving Koshary

  

The other more plausible interpretation is that Kushary originated in the mid 19th century, during a time when Egypt was a multi-cultural country in the middle of an economic boom.

The lower classes' usually limited pantry became full with a myriad of ingredients: lentils, rice, macaroni, chickpeas, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, oil, vinegar, etc. At the end of the month, families would usually have the entire collection of ingredients as leftovers, so families would quickly finish their supply in one dish.

Serving Kushary

More sources state that the dish originated from India and Italy, in 1914 when Indians attempted to make lentil and rice Khichdi, Italians added macaroni to the dish, over time the dish has progressed and evolved into the current dish through Egyptian soldiers, then Egyptian citizens. Kushary used to be sold on food carts in it's early years, and was introduced to restaurants in later years.

Koshari is widely popular among workers and laborers. It may be prepared at home, and is also served at roadside stalls and restaurants all over Egypt; some restaurants specialize in Kushary to the exclusion of other dishes, while others feature it as one item among many. As traditionally prepared Kushary does not contain any animal products, it can be considered vegan so long as all frying uses vegetable oil.

Kushary Cart Vendor

Clifford Wright (a famous Food critic) own history with Kushary was a bit convoluted. He was determined to have some Kushary in Cairo, but was often warned away from street food by those in the know, and not unwisely. Still, he had a strong craving for a bowl of this hearty-looking dish that he saw Cairenes eating with such gusto and which was described by the distinguished professor of botany Charles B. Heiser, Jr. as a nearly perfect food for protein enrichment. Finally throwing caution to the wind, he sauntered into a cook shop that would not have met Western hygienic standards, but seemed clean enough to him relative to the countless other less clean places in Cairo. In any case, the food preparation area was clean.

    The cook and his helper, standing behind a counter, were quite delighted to see him, a Westerner, walking into their shop on the Suq al-Tafikiya half way down from the Shari’ Ramses, near the national telecommunications building, far off the beaten tourist path. The name of their place was in Arabic, Kushary Magdi and Sons.

A plate of Kushary and sauce

The Kushary plate was assembled in front of him by spooning into a bowl broken pieces of cooked spaghetti and tubetti that are kept warm in a large pan, a cross between a wok and a tub. In another large pan a mixture of cooked rice and lentils is warmed separately and then tossed on top of the pasta, about three parts rice to one part lentils, flavoured by being sautéed first in samna (clarified butter). In a third, smaller bowl are very brown, slightly crispy, and thinly sliced onions, also cooked in samna.

First the cook’s helper tosses the macaroni into the bowl with a large serving ladle, on top goes the rice and lentils with a little hot liquidly tomato sauce, dim’a musabika (thick tomato sauce cooked to perfection), and then the caramelized onions on top of that.

Clifford sat down at a rickety table to eat with a spoon and considered the two condiments on the table. One was a pitcher of chili pepper-based tomato sauce and the other was a bowl of powdered wheat bran.

He finally admitted that the Kushary was absolutely delicious --- 

a very basic staple street food that really hits the spot and he would recommend it heartily.

Kunāfah

Kanafah (Arabic: كنافة‎‎ kunāfah, Turkish: künefe, Azerbaijani: ریشته ختایی riştə xətayi, Greek: κανταΐφι kadaïfi/kataïfi, Hebrew: כנאפה‎‎ knafeh), also spelled kunafeh or kunafah is a Middle Eastern cheese pastry soaked in sweet, sugar-based syrup, typical of the regions belonging to the former Ottoman Empire. It is a specialty of the Levant and adjoining areas of Egypt and Turkey.

Appetizing presentation

Main ingredients are dough in filaments, sugar, cheese, pistachio, rose water, kaymak (cream)

Kanafeh pastry comes in three types:

khishnah coarse (Arabic خشنه): crust made from long thin noodle threads

na'ama (Arabic ناعمة) (fine): semolina dough

kunafa with semolina

mhayara (Arabic محيرة) (mixed): a mixture of khishnah and na'ama

dough ready to spread

The pastry is heated in butter, margarine, palm oil, or traditionally semneh and then spread with soft white cheese, such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with more pastry. In khishnah kanafeh the cheese is rolled in the pastry. A thick syrup of sugar, water, and a few drops of rose water or orange blossom water is poured on the pastry during the final minutes of cooking. Often the top layer of pastry shops is tinted with red food coloring (a modern shortcut, instead of baking it for long periods of time). Crushed pistachios are sprinkled on top as a garnish.

Knafeh in Nablus

Variation with kunafa

Kanafeh was first mentioned in the 10th century.

It is generally believed to have originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus hence the name Nabulsieh. Nablus is still renowned for its kanafeh, which consists of mild white cheese and shredded wheat surface, which is covered by sugar syrup. In the Levant, this variant of kanafeh is the most common. The largest plate of kanafeh was made in Nablus. in an attempt to win a Palestinian citation in the Guinness World Records. It measured 75×2 meters and weighed 1,350 kilograms.

Turkish künefe and Turkish tea (çay)

The Turkish variant of the pastry kanafeh is called künefe and the wire shreds are called tel kadayıf. A semi-soft cheese such as Urfa peyniri (cheese of Urfa, or Hatay peyniri, cheese of Hatay), made of raw milk, is used in the filling. In making the künefe, the kadayıf is not rolled around the cheese; instead, cheese is put in between two layers of wiry kadayıf. It is cooked in small copper plates, and then served very hot in syrup with clotted cream (kaymak) and topped with pistachios or walnuts. In the Turkish cuisine, there is also yassı kadayıf and ekmek kadayıfı, none of which is made of wirey shreds.

making of the dough wires

Riştə Xətayi

This type of Azerbaijani variant is prepared in Tabriz, Iran. «Riştə Xətayi» is called to mesh shreds that are cooked typically in Ramadan in the world's biggest covered Bazaar of Tabriz. It is made of chopped walnuts, cinnamon, ginger, powder of rose, sugar, water, rose water, olive oil.

Kadaif

In this variant, called also καταΐφι or κανταΐφι in Greek (kataïfi or kadaïfi), the threads are used to make pastries of various forms (tubes or nests), often with a filling of chopped nuts as in baklava.

A Bosnian style kadaif pastry is made by putting down a layer of wire kadaif, then a layer of a filling of chopped nuts, then another layer of wire kadaif. The pastries are painted with melted butter, baked until golden brown and then drenched in sugar or honey syrup.

The dessert is usually made with long, thin strands of shredded phyllo dough known as kataifi. In fact, the word, kunafa is used interchangeably to describe both the dessert and the dough. The dough is usually fried or baked with butter or oil until it is crisp. In some variations, the kunafa is made with rich, cake-like semolina dough instead.

Kunafa mabruma

The Abbasid Caliphate cooks during the 9^th century  made a “crepe-like” pastry called qata’if wrapped around almond cream and drizzled with honey. Still know today under the same name.

robin nest kunafa

By the 10th century, Middle Eastern cooks began to bake “thinly sliced … qata’if and tossed the shreds with honey,” perfected later by Nablus cooks to become the kunafa of today, much later was the qata’if batter poured “into thin lines onto a hot metal sheet.” to form the uncooked dough. 

This new method of cooking the dough became the norms for the kunafa we see today.

data collected from internet

Eid el Ghutas

Eid el Ghutas: Celebrated on 19 January, it supposedly marks the end of the Christmas season begun on the 7th of the same month, and commemorates the baptism of Christ. The word “ghutas” meaning total immersion, usually in water, also describes the act of baptism of Coptic babies whereby the body is totally immersed in the holy font.

Christ Baptism

Food served during this feast is invariably the same in most homes, though the origin of the traditional meal remains contested, but some interesting explanations challenge the imagination. The main dish is taro stew served with rice, followed by tangerines and knuckles of sugar cane to chew on, in lieu of dessert.

Taro / Colcas

Taro leaves, whose scientific name is Madumbes, but more relevantly to our present purpose, also called Colocasia Esculenta, and in Arabic Colcas, are said to derive their name from Mount Golgotha, aka Calvary. A name attributed to the mount for a variety of reasons, none especially definitive, but the etymology of the word remains the same: “the place for skulls”, since the skull of Adam according to one version is buried there, and to another because the place looks like one. Further on, through the Aramaic Gulgalta, the word mutated into what we now know as colocasia, and ol'as. Ol’as, in Arabic, also rhymes with rass, meaning head, in reference to the skulls with which the word is connected (it is also said that if you don’t eat ol’as on ghutas, you will wake up without a rass. And yet others will say you will wake up without knickers, which in Arabic also rhymes with rass).

Taro (Colcas)

1 kg taro, peeled and cubed

Dices Taro

Chicken or beef broth

4 garlic cloves, mashed

2 tbsp butter

1 bunch green coriander, chopped

1 bunch Swiss chard, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash taro well in running tap water.

Place taro in a pot and cover with broth. Bring to the boil then lower heat and simmer until tender.

In a skillet, sauté garlic until golden then add coriander and Swiss chard and sauté for 2 more minutes.

Pour onto taro, bring to the boil then remove from heat

Mount Golgotha

This said, the reason ol'as and sugar cane are eaten on the occasion of an immersion, or the celebration of the baptism of Christ differs in relation to the skepticism of each account. According to some, the head of the taro resembles a bare skull and hence the justification of celebrating what may have taken place on Mount Golgotha, and the crucifixion of Christ. With the sugar cane left unaccounted for, we get another justification: mainly that Colocasia (in which case, the name and shape are immaterial) is a root vegetable that grows in moist sites and wetland found next to Golgotha; a water retentive plant tolerant of water logging, a characteristic it shares with another crop in particular: the sugar cane.

Taro in Soup

Little more need be said to explain the cult of water immersion and the association with those two highly moisture oriented plants. A different account, however, more secular and sceptical, told by no less practicing Copts is that given the date of the feast and the time of month, taro being a very nutritive plant and sugar cane with its high glycemic index would provide an exemplary diet of high calories to meet the cold. The pragmatic view would also hold that tangerines are the fruit of the season, and would explain away a whole traditional meal in the stark light of the market place.

Variation on Taro

Folklore also has it that one of the Alexandrian “nawwa's” (storms) occurs around that time of year to wash, or possibly irrigate the colocasia even more, since it bears the name “ghutas” following the same theme. As for the tangerines, no more in season than say, oranges and bananas, are probably chosen because their peel lends itself easily to making little incisions, and so children can slit them at the top making them into tiny basket shapes where a candle will be placed and lit. That the basket is meant to evoke the infant Jesus, is only speculation, but remains a possibility to ponder, and a tradition to add color to a feast with which not too many non Copts are as familiar as with the Coptic Christmas, now a national holiday, though with a distinctly less traditional meal.

 

Jesus with St-John the Baptist 

 Information from the internet 

Dates the Fruit

DATES 

Majestic palm tree

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from lands around Iraq.  The species is widely cultivated and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide Date trees typically reach about 70–75 feet (21–23 m) in height growing singly or forming a clump with several stems from a single root system. The leaves are 4–6 meters (13–20 ft) long, with spines on the petiole, and pinnate, with about 150 leaflets. The leaflets are 30 cm (12 in) long and 2 cm (0.79 in) wide. The full span of the crown ranges from 6–10 m (20–33 ft).

The species name dactylifera "date-bearing" comes from the Greek words daktylos (δάκτυλος), which means "date" (also "finger"), and fero (φέρω), which means "I bear”.

History of dates

Dry Dates

Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in eastern Arabia in 6000 BCE. They are believed to have originated around what is now Iraq, and have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 4000 BCE. The Ancient Egyptians used the fruits to make date wine, and ate them at harvest.

There is also archeological evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh around 7000 BCE, a Neolithic civilization in what is now western Pakistan. Evidence of cultivation is continually found throughout later civilizations in the Indus Valley, including the Harappan period 2600 to 1900 BCE.   

In later times, traders spread dates around South West Asia, northern Africa, and Spain. The Spaniards introduced dates into Mexico and California in 1765, around Mission San Ignacio.

A date palm cultivar, known as Judean date palm is renowned for its long-lived orthodox seed, which successfully sprouted after accidental storage for 2000 years. This particular seed is presently reputed to be the oldest viable seed, but the upper survival time limit of properly stored seeds remains unknown.   

Fossil records show that the date palm has existed for at least 50 million years.     

Dates

Red Dates,
Traditionally eaten by Copts in Egypt
Symbol of the martyr's during Nyrouz

The fruit is known as a date. The fruit's English name (through Old French), as well as the Latin species name dactylifera, both come from the Greek word for "finger", dáktulos, because of the fruit's elongated shape. Dates are oval-cylindrical, 3–7 cm long, and 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) diameter, and when ripe, range from bright red to bright yellow in color, depending on variety. Dates contain a single stone about 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) long and 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) thick.

Three main cultivar groups of date exist: soft (e.g. 'Barhee', 'Halawy', 'Khadrawy', 'Medjool'), semi-dry (e.g. 'Dayri', 'Deglet Noor', 'Zahdi'), and dry (e.g. 'Thoory'). The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose, and sucrose content.

The date palm is dioecious, having separate male and female plants. They can be easily grown from seed, but only 50% of seedlings will be female and hence fruit bearing, and dates from seedling plants are often smaller and of poorer quality. Most commercial plantations thus use cuttings of heavily cropping cultivars. Plants grown from cuttings will fruit 2–3 years earlier than seedling plants.

Yellow dates before turning Brown

 Dates are naturally wind pollinated, but in both traditional oasis horticulture and in the modern commercial orchards they are entirely pollinated manually. Natural pollination occurs with about an equal number of male and female plants. However, with assistance, one male can pollinate up to 100 females. Since the males are of value only as pollinators, this allows the growers to use their resources for many more fruit-producing female plants. Some growers do not even maintain any male plants, as male flowers become available at local markets at pollination time. Manual pollination is done by skilled laborers on ladders, or by use of a wind machine. In some areas such as Iraq the pollinator climbs the tree using a special climbing tool that wraps around the tree trunk and the climber's back (called تبلية in Arabic) to keep him attached to the trunk while climbing.

Dates ripen in four stages, which are known throughout the world by their Arabic names kimri (unripe), khlal (full-size, crunchy), rutab (ripe, soft), tamr (ripe, sun-dried).   

Date Pit

Dates are an important traditional crop in Iraq, Arabia, and North Africa west to Morocco. Dates are also mentioned more than 50 times in the Bible and 20 times in the Qur'an. In Islamic culture, dates and yogurt or milk are traditionally the first foods consumed for Iftar after the sun has set during Ramadan. Dates (especially Medjool and Deglet Noor) are also cultivated in America in southern California, Arizona and southern Florida in the United States and in Sonora and Baja California in Mexico.

Date palms can take 4 to 8 years after planting before they will bear fruit, and produce viable yields for commercial harvest between 7 and 10 years. Mature date palms can produce 68 to 176 kilograms of dates per harvest season, although they do not all ripen at the same time so several harvests are required. In order to get fruit of marketable quality, the bunches of dates must be thinned and bagged or covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits grow larger and are protected from weather and pests such as birds.

Fruit food uses 

Common commercial Dates

Dry or soft dates are eaten out-of-hand, or may be pitted and stuffed with fillings such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, candied orange and lemon peel, tahini, marzipan or cream cheese. Pitted dates are also referred to as stoned dates. Partially dried pitted dates may be glazed with glucose syrup for use as a snack food. Dates can also be chopped and used in a range of sweet and savory dishes, from tajines (tagines) in Morocco to puddings, ka'ak (types of Arab cookies) and other dessert items. Date nut bread, a type of cake, is very popular in the United States, especially around holidays. Dates are also processed into cubes, paste called "'ajwa", spread, date syrup or "honey" called "dibs" or "rub" in Libya, powder (date sugar), vinegar or alcohol. Vinegar made from dates is a traditional product of the Middle East.    Recent innovations include chocolate-covered dates and products such as sparkling date juice, used in some Islamic countries as a non-alcoholic version of champagne, for special occasions and religious times such as Ramadan. When Muslims break fast in the evening meal of Ramadan, it is traditional to eat a date first.

Dates can also be dehydrated, ground and mixed with grain to form a nutritious stock feed.

In Southeast Spain (where a large date plantation exists including UNESCO protected Palmeral of Elche) dates (usually pitted with fried almond) are served wrapped in bacon and shallow fried.

It is also used to make Jallab.

Dates provide a wide range of essential nutrients, and are a very good source of dietary potassium. The sugar content of ripe dates is about 80%; the remainder consists of protein, fiber, and trace elements including boron, cobalt, copper, fluorine, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and zinc, The glycemic index for three different varieties of dates are 35.5 (khalas), 49.7 (barhi), and 30.5 (bo ma'an).       

The caffeic acid glycoside 3-O-caffeoylshikimic acid (also known as dactylifric acid) and its isomers, are enzymic browning substrates found in dates. 

Nomads (Bedouins) in Egypt deserts are know to live on a diet of dry dates and goats milk.

      

Other uses of the fruits 

In Pakistan, viscous thick syrup made from the ripe fruits is used as a coating for leather bags and pipes to prevent leaking.

Uses of other parts of the plant 

Where craft traditions still thrive, such as in Oman, the palm tree is the most versatile of all indigenous plants, and virtually every part of the tree is utilized to make functional items ranging from rope and baskets to beehives, fishing boats, and traditional dwellings.   

Seeds 

Variety of Dates in Cairo market 

Date seeds are soaked and ground up for animal feed. Their oil is suitable for use in soap and cosmetics    Date palm seeds contain 0.56–5.4% lauric acid. They can also be processed chemically as a source of oxalic acid. The seeds are also burned to make charcoal for silversmiths, and can be strung in necklaces. Date seeds are also ground and used in the manner of coffee beans, or as an additive to coffee. Experimental studies have shown that feeding mice with the aqueous extract of date pits exhibit anti-genotoxic and reduce DNA damage induced by N-Nitroso-N-methylurea.  

Fruit clusters 

Stripped fruit clusters are used as brooms. Recently the floral stalks have been found to be of ornamental value in households.    

Sap 

Drying dates in the sun

Sweet sap tapped from date palm in West Bengal, India, In large parts of Northern India the local species of wild date palm, Phoenix sylvestris, is tapped for palm wine, while in Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries in the region it is now mostly tapped for jaggery and palm syrup production. Wild date palms are also tapped in large parts of Africa for palm wine. The process of palm tapping involves the cutting of the unopened flower stalk and then fastening a bottle gourd, clay or plastic vessel on to it. The palm sap then collects in the vessel and is harvested in the early morning hours. If a few drops of limejuice are added to the palm sap, fermentation can be stopped and the sap can then be boiled to form palm syrup, palm sugar, jaggery and numerous other edible products derived from the syrup. In India and Pakistan, North Africa, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, date palms are tapped for the sweet sap, which is converted into palm sugar (known as jaggery or gur), molasses or alcoholic beverages. In North Africa the sap obtained from tapping palm trees is known as lāgbī. If left for a sufficient period of time (typically hours, depending on the temperature) lāgbī easily becomes an alcoholic drink.    citation needed     Special skill is required when tapping the palm tree so that it does not die.

Leaves 

Palm tree bearing red dates (Zaagloul)

Date palm leaves are used for Palm Sunday in the Christian religion. In North Africa, they are commonly used for making huts. Mature leaves are also made into mats, screens, baskets and fans. Processed leaves can be used for insulating board. Dried leaf petioles are a source of cellulose pulp, used for walking sticks, brooms, fishing floats and fuel. Leaf sheaths are prized for their scent, and fibre from them is also used for rope, coarse cloth, and large hats. The leaves are also used as a lulav in the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Suite American dates

Young date leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable, as is the terminal bud or heart, though its removal kills the palm. The finely ground seeds are mixed with flour to make bread in times of scarcity. The flowers of the date palm are also edible. Traditionally the female flowers are the most available for sale and weigh 300–400 grams. The flower buds are used in salad or ground with dried fish to make a condiment for bread.

Wood 

Date palm wood is used for posts and rafters for huts; it is lighter than coconut and not very durable.