Where Do Dates Come From?
Written and edited by Tammy 19th September 2026
Surely I’m not the only one. Ok, hands up, date lovers, who’s ever been sitting there enjoying a handful of yummy, soft, chewy dates, then randomly thought… these are so good!… Where do dates come from??
I don’t remember ever seeing a date tree or date bush in anyone’s backyard recently, and that doesn’t sound right anyway. Surely not a date palm, like, I know there are date palms, but surely those ‘things’ you see at the top of date palms in images aren’t what I’m eating right now?
So I did what any curious soul does… I Googled it. Well, actually, I asked Chat.
… Where do dates come from?
And now I know…
Dates really DO grow on date palms! Who would've thought!
Yes. Those wrinkly little caramel-flavoured morsels are the fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, and they grow in great big hanging bunches underneath the palm fronds.
And when I say big bunches, I mean BIG bunches. A mature date palm can produce kilograms of fruit in a season, with hundreds of individual dates hanging together in enormous clusters.
Suddenly my little container from the supermarket seemed much more impressive.
But here’s where it gets even more interesting…
Date palms have separate male and female plants.
The boys produce the pollen, and the girls produce the fruit — but only once those female flowers have been pollinated. Commercial growers apparently often lend Mother Nature a helping hand by pollinating the flowers themselves rather than simply hoping the wind gets everything where it needs to go.
Imagine looking up at a palm tree and thinking, righto, better go and pollinate the dates.
Date palms are also serious lovers of sunshine and heat. They’ve been cultivated for thousands of years across the Middle East and North Africa and thrive in hot, dry climates. Here in Australia, dates are grown in some of our hottest, driest regions, particularly around Alice Springs in Central Australia and South Australia’s Riverland. With scorching summers, plenty of sunshine and very little rain, these areas provide just the sort of desert-like conditions date palms love. And yes, before you even ask, we grow those big, soft, caramelly Medjools right here in Australia too. My favourite!
Curious to see how dates are grown right here in South Australia? Take a peek at Riverland Date Garden.
Riverland Date Garden is a family-owned commercial date farm in Gurra Gurra in the Riverland, SA. They have around 400 female date palms and grow both Barhee and Medjool dates.
If I’m buying dates, Medjool dates are my pick.
They’re the big, plump ones with that gorgeous soft, chewy texture and rich caramel-like flavour. They almost feel far too indulgent to fall into the fruit category.
But fruit they are!
Dates naturally contain sugars, which explains that wonderful sweetness, but they also provide fibre, potassium and small amounts of several other minerals and nutrients. The fibre is particularly handy for keeping our digestive system ticking along nicely if you know what I mean🤭
That doesn’t mean we need to polish off half a packet in one sitting — they’re still a concentrated source of natural sugar and energy — but a couple of dates can make a beautifully satisfying little sweet treat.
My ridiculously simple date treat
Now, if you want to make a Medjool date even better, this is one of my favourite little treats.
Take a Medjool date, slice or pull it open and remove the pip.
Then backfill the hole with crunchy peanut butter.
And that’s it.
Soft, sticky, caramel-like date… salty, crunchy peanut butter…
Oh. My. Goodness.
It tastes far naughtier than it actually is. 😂
I also chop dates into my morning porridge, where they soften beautifully and add little pockets of natural sweetness.
So there you have it.
At 10:30 at night I was lying in bed eating dates and watching telly.
By 10:35 I was researching the reproductive habits of palm trees.
Such is the exciting life of a horticulturist. 😂🌴
But now the next time you reach into the pantry for a date, perhaps you’ll have the same little lightbulb moment I did and picture those enormous bunches of fruit hanging beneath the fronds of a sun-loving date palm.
And if you already knew all of this?
Well… you could have told me!
Happy Gardening!
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