Date sugar facts for kids
Date sugar is a type of sugar that comes from dried dates. You might find it in natural food stores because it's made with less processing than regular white sugar. Date sugar adds a rich, sweet taste to your food. However, it won't dissolve well in drinks, and it doesn't melt like regular sugar. This can limit how you use it in recipes. Some people think it's a healthier choice than brown sugar, but it can be quite expensive.
It's important not to mix up date sugar with palm sugar. Palm sugar is made from the sap of different palm trees, including date trees, but it's not the same as date sugar, which comes directly from the dried fruit.
How Is Date Sugar Made?
Date sugar is created from date palm fruits. It's a less refined type of sugar compared to the white sugar you usually see. You can use date sugar in many different foods and drinks.
Making Date Powder
To make date powder, first, a thick paste is created from raw dates. This paste is then mixed with a substance called maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is a common ingredient added to foods. After mixing, this blend is dried in an oven. Once dry, it's ground into small granules, which is the date sugar you can buy.
The amount of maltodextrin used changes how the sugar behaves. Many people enjoy making date sugar at home, but you can also buy it ready-made. Scientists are also working on ways to make the process of producing date sugar easier and faster.
Best Dates for Sugar
Dates go through a few stages as they grow: khalaal, rutab, and tamr. The best dates to use for making date sugar are called tamr dates. These dates are perfect because they are very sweet and have very little moisture, about 30%. Researchers are currently studying how to best measure the sugar content in dates. This research could help farmers pick the very best dates for making date sugar.
