What Souvenirs to Bring from Saudi Arabia – Part Four of the Top 15 Ideas for Gift Shopping, continued
Saudi Arabia has about 400 varieties of dates, with most of them being local varieties. The color of the fruit can range from amber and golden brown to almost black. Saudi Arabia reserves the place among the world’s three largest producers of dates, as date palms grow best in desert climates.
Dates in Saudi souk
You might be surprised to learn how many kinds of dates are there in Saudi Arabia.
Most popular varieties of Saudi Arabian dates
This is when you start thinking: how can I choose among all these varieties? It depends entirely up to your taste preferences. If bought by weight and not in readymade packaging, ask to try, or otherwise buy several types (dates degustation evening back home – truly Arabian experience!).
You will notice that they vary in intensiveness of taste, level of sweetness, skin flakiness, chewiness, dryness, level of skin wrinkleless, softness and meatiness (these are totally my terminology findings!).
Generally premium (and pricier) dates types are considered to be Ajwa, Anbara and Sukkary,
There are several growth stages of a date fruit and there is a separate term for each of the stages in the Arabic language! (see here ). Different types of dates consumed at different stages of their ripeness: some are best eaten fresh and juicy, while others should turn sun-dried to taste the best. Compare and chose!
The easiest way for you to find dates is a supermarket (most probably there is a big chain supermarket on the lower floor of your nearby mall), however look also for an outlet of the famous Bateel producing company.
One of the Bateel stores
Bateel is known for their high quality products. The idea of the gourmet date products was born in Al-Ghat, a small town of several thousand inhabitants in Riyadh province, rich with date palms. In the Bateel store you will have a chance to try fresh dates that can only be stored frozen. Take a close look at their gourmet products: dates stuffed with roasted or caramelized nuts, lemon or orange peel, chocolate truffles made of dates, traditional date pastries (called maamoul) with a gourmet twist. All of these are sold by weight, don’t be shy to make an assortment.
Time for an insider tip. Bateel also sells wooden boxes to fill with dates, but you can also buy such box separately. One of the box designs has a map of Saudi Arabia on the cover. It comes in three different sizes (look at the left side of the photo above), of a good quality, and the finish is shiny and smooth. Such box bought separately will make a fantastic memorabilia gift for yourself, or a souvenir for somebody you care for.
Bateel wooden box with a map of Saudi Arabia
You can definitely find other specialized dates stores in Saudi Arabia. They sell all- things-dates: assorted, by weight, cookies, you’ve got the idea. One of these specialized chains is Talah Aljood.
This is one of your options for a dates taster in Talah Aljood store.
Again, don’t be shy to ask for a sample to taste.
Insider tip: you can try dates shake both in Talah Aljood and in Bateel Coffee shop locations.
Talah Aljood and Bateel refreshing date shakes
Image source collage made of pictures from here and here.
Back to the supermarket. By now you probably have started to suspect that there should be lots of date products available. That’s right. Dates syrup, dates vinegar, dates paste, dates cookies “maamoul” or “ma’moul”. You name it. To give you an idea, syrup and vinegar will be good for flavored salad dressings or BBQ sauce back home!
Here comes one more marvelous gift idea: get individually wrapped dates sold by kilo, this way you can carry around with you a handful for a quick snack, or when sharing nobody’s hands will get messy. Compare:
Individually wrapped dates vs unwrapped dates
Images source: collage made of pictures from here and here
Siafa Dates company supplies their products to most of the Saudi supermarkets. Looks for these beauties in the shelves
Dates with Arabic coffee flavored filling, rose petals flavored filling, traditional cookies with black seeds, dates with cardamom and nuts…
Image source: collage made of pictures found here
Have you noticed that most of their dates products are individually wrapped? Handy! They also supply Duty Free shops in Saudi airports, and you will be able to do your last minute shopping before leaving the Kingdom.
We will continue with edible gifts from Saudi Arabia in the next post. Read on!
