Has anyone encountered date sugar in their travels????

I try to use the best and healthiest ingredients in all my home cooking. I have been using a product called Sucanat which is a combination of evaporated cane juice and a molasses extraction but I have been reading of date sugar which is a natural occuring sugar and I believe therefore healthier and lacking the undesirable molasses taste of Sucanat. Does anyone know of date sugar???

[momoreg]

I've seen it, but never tried it. I recently bought a tub of palm sugar, and I'm having fun working with that. It's really fruity and light. There was an article about various sugars about 3 months ago, either in Food Arts, or Pastry Art and Design, that was informative.

[cape chef]

Razor, Welcome to cheftalk.
I have seen what is called Palm sugar (gur)
The date is actually from a type of Palm tree
just like maple syrup when the tree is trying to produce new growth it converts it's starch reserves into sugar
The best dates are almost 70 percent sugar (when dried)
I would look in health food stores for Date sugar
cc
PS Wheres the DATE guy when we need him (inside joke)

Date sugar is very dehydrated, ground date. It's very coarse and grainy and tastes just like dates. Usually, you can find it in health food stores, but it can become moldy and meal bugs like it a lot. Be very careful when buying it. I've tested a few recipes with it and found that it works best with stronger flavored items like gingerbread. Do not try to make meringues, no go!

I bought date sugar at our local CO-OP. IT seems as if it is ground dehydrated dates mixed with sugar - not just dehydrated dates. Since I am considering an article on date sugar, I e-mailed the date commision - no response as yet. I will say one thing in using it. Dissolving is not its strong feature. IT works best stirred into a hot liquid. I have tried coffee and tea.

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[kokopuffs]

Contact Shields Date Garden (or Farm) in the Palm Springs/Indio region of California. They definitely sell it mailorder. And do yourself a real favor by ordering some Medjool dates. They are the absolute finest tasting in the world ... melt in your mouth! Believe me.

[mudbug]

I've seen it at ethnic grocery stores(middle eastern I believe).

For sources information, and recipes on date sugar look here.

[Isa]

The date chef would know. Remember him?

[kokopuffs]

The best tasting dates in the world come from Algeria in North Africa. Many date palms in the Coachella Valley (Indio, Palm Springs area) were, indeed, imported from Algeria. So it doesn't surprise me that date sugar can be found at middle eastern gorcery stores.

This company carries date sugar

Glory Bee Foods