Dating around... The lowdown on our favourite dried fruit!

Can we ask you…do you want a date? No, we don’t mean a romantic, candlelit dinner by the river, we mean the deliciously sweet dried fruit that is used to make our DIY Mixes.

As majority of our Protein and Snack Ball Mixes require the addition of dates to bind everything together, we thought we would give you some extra information about what you and your family are eating!

Dates are tropical stone fruits originating from the Persian Gulf area of the Middle East that are commonly eaten as a snack and used as a natural sweetener in baking. There are more than 200 different varieties of dates(?!), with some well-known varieties including Medjool, Barhi, Piarom and Rabbi. All dates vary in shapes, taste and flavours; however, their colouring, sweetness and nutritional content is similar.

As a stone fruit, they require ‘pitting’ before use, which involves removing the stone/pit from the centre of the fruit. Pushed for time or can’t be bothered with the faff? No stress, the supermarkets have you covered by being able to buy pitted dates in the health food or baking aisle!

Now a little bit about the nutritional content. Dates contain lots of nutrients that are beneficial for health and wellbeing, with some stand-out ones including:

• Dietary Fibre
• Manganese
• Iron

Manganese is an antioxidant which can help protect your body cells preventative diseases and reduce inflammation. Whereas, Iron is vital for blood production and oxygen transportation around your body. As dates are extremely fibrous, they can help regulate blood sugar levels, along with keeping things moving through the digestive system. Make sure you don’t eat too many dates otherwise you may not be able to move too far away from the bathroom….

 

With sugar consumption increasing globally from processed foods, we understand that you may be seeking ways to reduce your sugar intake. This is where dates come in handy, as they contain the naturally occurring sugar fructose, which is found in fruit and vegetables.  Fructose, along with other naturally occurring sugars found in dairy based products and unprocessed foods, are preferred sources of sugar by the body, as they are easily digestible and used as energy sources.

There are just a few things that we love about dates. We love snacking on them plain, stuffed with nut butter (you’ll thank us later) or in our mixes. We especially love using them in our Salted Caramel Protein Ball as it adds a deeper caramel flavour…who doesn’t want to indulge guilt-free in that?! You have to try it for yourself!

 - The Funch Team 

Image credit: With thanks to Enotovyj from Pixabay & Daria Shevtsova from Pexels.