Dates contain vitamins A, B1, B2 and niacin in large amounts, and a little vitamin C. They are a good source of potassium, calcium and iron, and contain a fair amount of chlorine, copper, magnesium, sulphur and phosphorus. Proteins occur in date fruit in the range of 1-3%. Fibre amounts to 2-6% of date flesh and is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignins and ligno-cellulose, and insoluble proteins. Free Quote.

Botanically, the date fruit is a berry consisting of a single seed surrounded by a parchment-like endocarp, a fleshy mesocarp and the fruit skin. It takes up to 200 days from pollination to reach full maturation (the tamr stage). During its formation and ripening the fruit passes through a number of distinct phases, each distinguished chemically through four stages known in Arabic as kimri, khalaal, rutab and tamr. Dates sugars consist of a mixture of sucrose (C12 H22 011), glucose (C6 H12 06) and fructose (C6 H12 06) — the latter two being derivations of sucrose after inversion. The total sugars (at the mature tamr stage) are mainly fructose that can be used to generate dimethylfuran — a “powerful biofuel”, as recently reported in the journal Nature. 2007 Jun 21;447(7147):982-5. Free Quote