Dates

The fruit of Phoenix dactylifera, the date is one of the oldest cultivated crop in the ancient Near East and one of the most important sources of sustenance for its people. With a 60% content in sugar, it is also made into fragrant honey. While honey is mentioned often in the OT (about 49x, of which 21 occur in the expression "a land of milk and honey") bees and honeycomb occur very rarely (only 4x each). Based on these facts many scholars suggest that the honey mentioned is probably date-honey rather than those derived from bees. Fermented, the honey also yields alcohol and vinegar.

The palm itself, called tamar in Hebrew, grows to a height of 30m, but does not begin to bear fruits until its 35th year. The palms are unisexual and are usually pollinated artificially; cut male flowers tied among the female flowers does the job.

Not unlike the coconut tree in the tropics, almost every part of the tree finds a use somewhere. The fronds are woven into mats, baskets, roof thatches; its fibres into ropes and—mixed with camel hair—into tents, and its midribs into cages and brooms.

The centrality of the date palm in the life of ancient Israelites is also evidenced in the number of women named Tamar, and the motif that finds its way into her literature; the Song of Solomon notably thinks of his beloved in terms of the palm, "'I will climb the palm tree [tamar]; I will take hold of its fruit.' May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples . . ." (7:8). Its fruitfulness is used as a figure of the righteous (Psm 92:12). One of the most common architectural motif found in Judean palaces is that of a stylized date palm.