Deglet Nour also spelled Deglet Noor (Modern Arabic: ; from Classical Arabic دقْلَة النُور :daqlatu (a)n-nūr - literally, "date-palm of light"; "heavenly date"; from Classical Arabic daqal, a kind of date palm) named also Royal Dates—is a cultivar of the

date palm ''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 called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...

which originated in the oasis of Tolga in Algeria.Pierre Munier, ''Le palmier-dattier'', éd. Maisonneuve et Larose, Paris, 1973, Commonly referred to as the "queen of all dates", the authentic Algerian Deglet Nour date has a soft touch, a translucent light color and a soft

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

-like taste, characteristics which distinguish it from other dates. Deglet Nours are popular in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, where it is grown in inland oases and is the chief export cultivar. Deglet Nour is one of hundreds of cultivars of

but is, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO), the leading date in terms of export value.

Origins

Several old books provide evidence that the Deglet Nour date was first grown in Algeria by the Amazigh people. Among them are ''Le palmier-dattier'' by Pierre Munier, ''L'Algérie: un siècle de colonisation française'' by Félix Falck, ''Un voyage au pays des dattes'' by Jean-Henri Fabre as well as ''le Bulletin de la Société botanique de France''. Munier states that the fruit was introduced at the end of the 13th century and at the beginning of the 14th century from the oasis of Tolga to the neighboring areas of Biskra and Oued Righ in Algeria, before being brought to Tunisia at the end of the 17th century by a grower from Tozeur named Sidi Touati. The Algerian Ministry of Agriculture has decided to act in order to reserve the Deglet Nour label to Algerian dates.

Production

This cultivar of date is mainly grown in Algeria ( Tolga, Oued Righ), in Tunisia (in the areas of Jérid and Nefzaoua), and in the United States (in California, Arizona and Texas) where this cultivar was brought at the beginning of the 20th century.

References

External links

Comparison chart of dates
{{Date cultivars Date cultivars