Date and Date Processing: A Review

Date fruit is an important product in the world and plays a significant role in the economic and political life in date growing regions. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a monocotyledon plant that goes through the stages of hababauk, kimri, khalal, rutab, and tamer during ripening. The main constituents of date include water, sugar, protein, fat, pectin, ash, crude fiber, and polyphenols. Processing of date includes cleaning, grading, heat treatment, drying, fumigation, irradiation, moistening, pitting, pasteurization, coating, and packaging. Date palm products include semi-finished and ready-to-use date products, derived products from date such as date juice, date syrup, date spread, liquid date sugar, “Tarooneh” arrack, and sago. Fermented products from date include alcohol, wine, organic acids, and single cell protein. Date by-products containing date pit and presscake can be used in producing alcohol and animal feed. As date pit contains dietary fiber and phenolic compounds, it can be used in functional foods. The aim of the present study is to collect comprehensive information about date fruit and date processing.