Wednesday, August 19, 2009

one reason I'm excited for fall

And there are many reasons, though for the record, I'm not nearly ready yet.

I waited til the very end of the season to mention Cara Cara oranges. And I feel bad about that. But this time, I'm giving you months of weekends to track these down at the farmer's market. If you live somewhere near a desert, where they grow dates.



Words cannot possibly illustrate how amazing these little nutty carmel maple jewels of manna straight from the middle eastern farm gods are. Dates are from the middle east, right?



Doesn't matter. What matters is they are available ONLY during the few months of fall. And I'm telling you, they are worth tracking them down. They are yellow to start, and hard, but sort of tasty all them same. But then once they ripen and get brown and soft, they are like magic. Alone or spread onto buttered toast you will die when you taste.

I almost forgot. They are called Barhi. And make sure you get the fresh ones. Once they've been dried for a while they start to taste more like regular old dates. Which are still delicious. But I'm telling you, these are different.

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14 comments:

  1. CarolineAugust 20, 2009 at 1:29 PM

    Have you ever had a date shake?? I had one about a year ago in Palm Springs... instant happiness!!! I love dates!!

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  2. bigBANG studioAugust 20, 2009 at 1:36 PM

    Ah! Heaven! I'm totally going to scavenge our desert farmer's mkt for them. Thanks for the great post. BTW, what kind of camera are you using? I'm about to upgrade my dSLR and love your fantastic shots!

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  3. ¡Fräulein!August 20, 2009 at 2:48 PM

    yumm!! i'm going to have to look for some @ one of the long beach farmer's markets. thanks for the heads up!

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  4. Michelle {lovely little things}August 21, 2009 at 10:52 AM

    I've never had one of these, now I'm really excited to try one!

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  5. Simply Mel {Reverie}August 23, 2009 at 11:54 AM

    I'm going to hunt them down and find them! Cannot wait to try!

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  6. SloanAugust 24, 2009 at 5:13 AM

    Thanks to your post I just discovered that there is a date palm on the property of my apartment building in Phoenix...my husband and I gorged on dates straight from the tree. You were absolutely right. Heavenly.

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  7. AmandaAugust 24, 2009 at 10:46 AM

    Mmmmmmmmmm

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  8. prashantAugust 24, 2009 at 2:45 PM

    I'm totally going to scavenge our desert farmer's mkt for them. Thanks for the great post.
    How to make a website

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  9. Rita FinnAugust 24, 2009 at 3:24 PM

    What beautiful pictures! I must go have some!

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  10. Furniture removalAugust 25, 2009 at 4:48 AM

    Cara-cara orange? I never heard of it. But I’m very interested to taste it.

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  11. Wellington JobsAugust 25, 2009 at 4:50 AM

    Sounds tasty, I’ll look forward of hunting this fruit. LOL!

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  12. AnonymousAugust 25, 2009 at 11:20 AM

    My friend ate hundreds, if not thousands of these whilst pregnant, I used to eat them with her, they are delicious.

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  13. emilyg123September 10, 2009 at 7:58 AM

    Thanks for the suggestion. Picked some up at the Seaside Market in Cardiff the other day and now waiting for them to ripen.

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  14. bigBANG studioSeptember 17, 2009 at 8:48 AM

    Hello Kristina! One month later: I bought some barhi dates at the Joshua Tree farmer's mkt and gave you a shout-out on my post for teaching us abt them- Cheers!

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