Chapter 10 - Date Fruits: Nutritional Composition of Dates (Balanites aegyptiaca Delile and Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Abstract

Date fruits are wild or cultivated; the plant is endemic to dry land areas. The plant is commonly grown in arid regions of Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, and has been introduced in North America and Australia. Dates are traditionally used for several purposes although the nutritional significance of the date fruits as food is beyond imagination. Chemical analysis of date fruits indicated large variation in nutritional composition, depending on the species cultivars. Research on the desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca Del.) indicated that the fruit species is source of significant bioactive components with nutritional health benefits. The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) contains a high concentration of sugar, its main component. Date fruits in general contain numbers of components of polyphenols, including phenolic acids, hydroxycinnamates, flavonoid glycosides, coumarins, alkaloids and proanthocyanidin oligomers, flavor volatile compounds, and more constituents that vary with different date varieties. The date palm and desert date differ in color and shape, and mostly in the taste of fruit flesh taste because of the large difference in sugar content.