No kidding – not a date, date – but a date nonetheless. One of those juicy sweet squishy little numbers that I am oh so in love with at the moment. Of course, I want you to join me for a ‘date’ every week because you as a reader are very important to me, but for today we are talking about the fruit date.

Wiki tells me that the date palm is actually native to the middle east and (here is my fav part because it sounds oh so ancient) it was mentioned in the bible as the ‘tree of life.’ Date comes from the greek word, daktulos which means finger.

On my no refined sugar quest, dates have moved right back onto my menu. They have a wonderful sweetness, similar tasting to sugar and make a perfect substitute for sugar in many recipes. This Good Food Friday – I’m sharing the love.

Spiced Dates with Yoghurt

1/2 cup of orange juice
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamon pods bruised
500gm of pitted dates
500gm organic greek style yoghurt
1/4 cup of Slithered almonds

In a saucepan combine orange juice, cinnamon, cardamon and dates with 1/4 cup of water and bring to the boil, simmering for 5 – 7 minutes or until the it becomes thick. Remove and allow to cool.
Place date mixture into glasses, top with yoghurt, pour over left over date syrup and garnish with almonds. This one is good enough to serve at your next dinner party.