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Today's NotMilk News Letter 11/18/03

 

A Date With Oranges

 

Flowers are the traditional way to say " I Love You " or

" Congratulations " or " Get Well Soon " or " Happy Whatever... "

 

Getting flowers can be a wonderful experience, but

months or years later, the gesture is often forgotten

by the recipient. Want to make a lifetime impression?

 

Send a crate of organically grown DATES or ORANGES,

right from the farm!

 

DATES: 760-359-3211

ORANGES: http://www.flnaturalcitrus.com

 

I enjoy discovering sources for incredible foods.

Like finding a secret treasure, a tiny Georgia

pecan farm or organic Florida orange grove is sometimes

a precious jewel to be carefully guarded. The fiddlehead

crop is so tiny, that I share that news with nobody each

spring when receiving my package from Maine. The tiny

heirloom yellow tomatoes from Plymouth, Massachusetts,

and the mangos as big as a man's head from Florida,

all seasonal foods that make eating such a joy. The

Winesap apples from New York, and the extra-large

sweet Brussels sprouts from a small farm in Cutchogue,

New York are a few of the miracles of harvest that I

enjoy each year.

 

I purchase nuts, grains, and beans directly from organic

farmers. The foods we eat represent the " pick of the

crop " and often cost much less than supermarket produce,

and the taste cannot be compared.

 

If you want to order a box of dates from the DATE

PEOPLE for Christmas or Chanukah, do so now. They

will not be able to fill your order in another

week or so. Same goes for the oranges, which are

in extremely limited supply. The orange grower,

Dave Fedor, uses no pesticides, herbicides, or

chemical fertilizers on his crops.

 

You owe it to yourself to buy a box of mixed dates.

I personally guarantee you that you've never tasted

anything like these from gourmet shops or grocery stores.

Picked and shipped fresh, depending upon the season,

you can select from a mix of 50 different varieties

 

Sometime after opening the box, you will imagine

yourself a robed Bedouin on a desert oasis. You'll

be sampling dayri, zahidi, and hayani. Imagine the

Saracen sitting on a Persian rug, dining with T.E.

Lawrence, enjoying deglet noors and Mecca golds in

Damascus.

 

As I write this, I have before me four different

varieties. Each one, perfectly ripe, having been

picked fresh and immediately shipped. In am

enjoying the Barhi, Black Plum, Brown Fingerlings,

and Halawi.

 

The Barhi could not possibly be mass produced or

commercially marketed. They are so very soft, they

could not survive months of warehousing as do traditional

store dates. The word " barhi " must certainly

translate in Farsi as " melt-in-your mouth sweetness. "

 

The Black Plum dates are appropriately named. No wrinkles.

Smoothe and firm in your hand, soft interior, a different

kind of sweetness. You might imagine that each has been

injected with the essense of honey taken from bees

gathering nectar from fields of wildflowers.

 

The Brown Fingerlings look like traditional store-bought

dates. They are wrinkled, but the resemblance ends with

your first bite. A soft chewy texture like caramel

candy with a hint of vanilla.

 

Finally, the Halawi, my favorites. Each date, a package

of sustanance similar to a sweet, freshly baked whole

grain bread. I lack the words to describe the complexity

of flavors.

 

Combine the oranges and dates for an Eden-like meal

requiring no other food or drink. You can order the

oranges on the Internet, but the date people are

100 years behind, and have not yet discovered the

Internet.

 

To Order:

 

DATES: 760-359-3211

ORANGES: http://www.flnaturalcitrus.com

 

Robert Cohen

http://www.notmilk.com