Date honey, date syrup, date molasses, Debes (, ), or rub (, ; ''dvash tmarim'' or סילאן, ''silan''; ) is a thick dark brown, very sweet

fruit syrup Fruit syrups or fruit molasses are concentrated fruit juices used as sweeteners. Fruit syrups have been used in many cuisines: * in Arab cuisine, '' rub'', '' jallab''; * in Ancient Greek cuisine, '' epsima''; * in Greek cuisine, '' petimezi' ...

extracted from dates. It is widely used in

Middle Eastern cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine includes a number of cuisines from the Middle East. Common ingredients include olives and olive oil, pitas, honey, sesame seeds, dates, sumac, chickpeas, mint, rice and parsley, and popular dishes include '' kebabs'', ...

and

Greek cuisine Greek cuisine is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other Mediterranean cuisine, cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, olive oil, grains ...

History

The

Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, includes honey among its bounties. Rabbinic texts such as the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

and

Sifre Sifre (; ''siphrēy'', ''Sifre, Sifrei'', also, ''Sifre debe Rab'' or ''Sifre Rabbah'') refers to either of two works of '' Midrash halakha'', or classical Jewish legal biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. ...

interpret this honey as date honey rather than bee honey. Archaeological evidence from Jerusalem supports the use of date honey during this period. A storage jar, marked with a palm tree and found in a room of a building destroyed during the siege of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, indicates that date honey was stored there. First-century Jewish historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, in his account of the oases of

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

and the various date varieties grown in this region of Judaea, notes that "the better kinds f dates when pressed, yield an excellent honey not much inferior in sweetness to other honey." From this same period, remains of an installation identified as a date press used for producing date honey were discovered at the nearby settlement of

Qumran Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...

Nutritional aspects

Date syrup is rich in the monosaccharides

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

and

fructose Fructose (), or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and gal ...

. This means that most of its sugar content is absorbed into the bloodstream, and it raises the blood glucose levels more efficiently and immediately than other syrups. It is therefore highly suitable for people suffering from

hypoglycaemia Hypoglycemia (American English), also spelled hypoglycaemia or hypoglycæmia (British English), sometimes called low blood sugar, is a fall in blood sugar to levels below normal, typically below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L). Whipple's tria ...

, for those with

sucrose intolerance Sucrose intolerance or genetic sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (GSID) is the condition in which sucrase-isomaltase, an enzyme needed for proper metabolism of sucrose (sugar) and starch (e.g., grains), is not produced or the enzyme produced is either ...

or those with pancreatic problems who have difficulty absorbing disaccharides. Date syrup is higher in magnesium and potassium than some natural sweeteners such as

maple syrup Maple syrup is a sweet syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Ma ...

and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of 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 pl ...

, and it has been a popular alternative to sugar in recent years. It is also rich in antioxidants due to its high phenolic and flavonoid content and has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity.

In national cuisines

It is used widely in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, usually with asida, a porridge-like dessert. In

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

and Iraqi cuisine, date syrup is used to sweeten tahini, consumed at breakfast. An alternative is

grape syrup Grape syrup is a condiment made with concentrated grape juice. It is thick and sweet because of its high ratio of sugar to water. Grape syrup is made by boiling grapes, removing their skins, and squeezing them through a sieve to extract the ju ...

. In

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, date syrup is used in desserts such as

baghrir Baghrir or beghrir (Arabic:البغرير), also known as ghrayef or mchahda, is a pancake consumed in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. They are small, spongy, and made with semolina or flour; when cooked correctly, they are riddled with tiny holes ( ...

. In the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, date syrup is used for flavoring chicken and potatoes. They are rubbed in date syrup mixed with cardamom, salt, and olive oil, and then rolled in sesame before being fried in olive oil or baked it in the oven as a whole. Date honey is also used as a sauce for stuffed vegetables, such as onions and turnips, and as an ingredient in a semolina cake called

basbousa Basbousa () is a sweet, syrup-soaked semolina dessert that is typically associated with Egyptian cuisine. Similar but slightly different dishes are also popular in the wider region. The semolina batter is baked in a sheet pan, then sweetened with ...

, which gives the cake a honey-like taste. Bangladesh produces around 20,000 tonnes of date molasses in each year. The Kalkini Upazila region of Bangladesh is famous for its date juice and date molasses.

References

External links

* Arab cuisine Arabic drinks Algerian cuisine Honey Syrup Libyan cuisine Iraqi cuisine Palestinian cuisine Israeli cuisine Date dishes {{arab-cuisine-stub

History

Nutritional aspects

In national cuisines

See also

References

External links