Episode 60: The Date Palm

Dates are among the earliest tree crops cultivated by humans and retain cultural significance throughout the Middle East and the surrounding Arabic world. Date Palm trees are especially important in Jewish faith and see prominence in multiple holidays, like the upcoming Sukkot. Hear about the long  history of these trees, the variety of uses and symbols associated with them, as well as why America turned its back on the fruit in the last century. Music is by Academy Garden. Cover art is by @boomerangbrit on Instagram. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter @MyFavoriteTrees or on Instagram @treepodcast.

Sources:

https://books.google.com/books?id=R0XjojWqfqcC&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/many-dates-one-palm-tree-produce-101844.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-13-sci-methuselah13-story.html

https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/date-palm-history

https://allmesopotamia.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/dates-in-mesopotamia/

https://iranicaonline.org/articles/date-palm

http://www.rahamasha.net/uploads/2/3/2/8/2328777/da.pdf

https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijhcs/v6-i2/1.pdf

https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Tamar.html

https://www.learnreligions.com/palm-branches-bible-story-summary-701202

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-date-is-so-important-to-muslim-world-180962011/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/7328?seq=13#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/10/320346869/forbidding-fruit-how-america-got-turned-on-to-the-date

https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/date.html

https://www.statista.com/statistics/960247/dates-production-worldwide/

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/history-of-sukkot/

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4457/jewish/How-To-Celebrate-Sukkot.htm