Date syrup

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the major fruit trees in Egypt. It has been used as food for 6000 years.

Date fruits assume great importance in human nutrition owing to their rich content of essential nutrients which include carbohydrates, salts, minerals, dietary fiber, vitamins, fatty acids, amino acids and protein. Industrially, it is utilized to produce several products such as syrup, jam, jelly, chutney, candy and date bars.

Date syrup; locally named dibs, is probably the most common derived date product. In food technology, date syrup as the main and general by-product of date is used for foodstuffs such as jams, marmalades, concentrated beverages, chocolates, ice cream, confectioneries, honey, bakery products and etc.

Since ancient times, in Egypt, date syrup locally known as "Date molasses" and produced as an accidental by-product in the storage of bagged, humid dates. By this way, it would give not more than 6% of the date weight and the syrup quality not be controlled.

In date's syrup industry, date fruits flesh is mixed with water and heated at over 70°C for one hour or more in the extraction process; resulting in destroying some nutritive and health-promoting components, and causing the darkness of the final product's color.
Date syrup