Savor the Date

These sweet fruits are nutritionally dense, self-preserving, and delightful alone or in all kinds of dishes. Anney and Lauren delve into the science and history of dates.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm any Yes and I'm Lareen Welco bam, and today
we have an episode for you about dates. Yeah, like
that's yes, yes, Because this is Saber, we are talking
about the food ostensibly a food show again. Yes, another

(00:30):
slogan slash T shirt we should have. Yeah. I I
do love a date. I don't have too much experience
with them, but I have a good friend who's from
Iran and we've been friends since middle school and she
loves dates and she introduced me to them, and she's
shown me many recipes with them. Uh. And so every

(00:52):
time I think of a date, I think of Marissa
whoever reached before on this podcast. Yeah him, Rissa, if
you're listening, Yeah, yeah, I I love a date. Um.
I went through a big date period. Maybe oh gosh,
it was a long time ago now, like like fifteen
years ago. Um, but they still often to remind me.

(01:15):
I think this is from Indiana Jones and Raiders of
the Lost Ark. I think early on in the film
there's like a poisoned date that the monkey eats and
then there's no more monkey. Um. What Yeah, Yeah, they're
trying to they're trying to assassinate, you know, Dr Jones
and goodness and the poison date, with the poison date,

(01:35):
stop his search for the ark. Wow. Yeah, see again.
I've said it before. That would be the easiest way
to kill me. Free food. I will take it. Please,
don't get any ideas, listeners, but yeah, please, and thank you,
thank you. Uh. But I wasn't thinking about dates because

(02:03):
I was thinking of poisoning anyone. Uh No. Rather, Ramadan
just ended, uh, which is a month of heightened spiritual
reflection and service in Muslim practice. Um. Yeah, I just
ended about a week or so ago. Um. And dates
the fruit are a traditional way to break the daily

(02:24):
sunrise to sunset fast or uh, dawn to dusk fast.
I guess it's more technically correct. Um. They're also a
popular ingredient in desserts for eed, which is the holiday
at the end of Ramadan. So yeah, yeah, yeah, and
here we are. I suppose that brings us to our question.
I guess dates. What are they? Well? Dates are a

(02:53):
type of small fruit that, when harvested fresh, are often
already slightly dried. They're sort of self preserving. They're very
sweet and sort of rich, tasting. They're dense and can
be almost creamy in texture, like a like a like
a slightly less sticky caramel um or like a fruit

(03:15):
patte that just like grows that way on trees. Uh uh,
they're like okay, Like I talk a lot about dishes
where when you eat them, you feel like somebody cares
about you. Um, this is like nature cares about you.
This is like nature was just going like, oh, you
deserve something nice. There you go, oh yeah, well thank

(03:39):
you nature. Right yeah. Uh. Dates grow on a type
of tall, long lived palm tree called a date palm um.
Taxonomical name Phoenix dactylifera. Yeah, yeah, something like that. Botanically
speak ing um. These trees are super interesting because they're

(04:04):
sort of a study in contradictions. They're tolerant of salty
soil but don't like salt water. They require long, hot,
dry summers to develop their fruit, but you've got to
give them like a lot of water at their roots.
They can tolerate desert temperatures ranging from below freezing to
halfway out of boiling water, like negative five to fifty

(04:26):
celsius that's like twenty three degrees to a hundred and
twenty two fahrenheit. Um, like they are meant for a
desert oasis, which is so specific. I love it. That
is very, very specific. It does feel like I can
see why there's so many myths and legends about them,
which we're going to get into later. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, um,

(04:48):
including including that genus name phoenix. Dates can be or
date palms rather, I guess, can be a little finicky
to get a crop from because they're just so shualized. Um.
You know, in addition to your heat and water requirements,
you're also dealing with the fact that the trees take
a couple of decades to reach full production capacity. Um.

(05:10):
They also have separate male and female trees that you
have to convince to pollinate. Um. But let's talk more
about how they grow, okay. Um. Date palms are often
propagated from offshoots of an existing tree, so that the
new tree will be genetically identical to the old one
instead of like the mixed bag that you're going to
get from planting seed. UM. Palms in general grow differently

(05:33):
from trees like oaks that you know will form new
layers within their trunks every year and thus have thicker
and thicker trunks the older that they get. UM. Instead,
palms push upward as they grow older and UM grow
their leaves at the top of the plant on these large, stiff,
fan shaped fronds. UM. It's called the crown because the

(05:56):
fronds go out in a ring that kind of looks
like a crown. Got it, Yeah, you know. Anyway, crown
can also mean the top of something in general. Also,
different different palms are gonna. You know, your mileage may vary,
um botany wise, but this is basically how date palms work. Okay,
So anyway, at the crown, date palms develop these huge

(06:18):
clusters of small flowers. UM. They first develop within these
hard shells that sort of crack open. When the flowers
are mature, white to yellow in color. UM. They can
be pollinated by wind or with help from people or animals,
and when they are they will develop into clusters of
fruit like these huge bunches UM. They look sort of

(06:40):
like like tiny bananas or like big oblong grapes. UM.
That species name Dactilifera comes from how they sort of
resemble fingers dactyle dactyl. Yeah. The fruit go from green
and plump when they're immature to kind of firm and

(07:01):
yellow pink red or like scarlet purple when they're mature,
but are often allowed to ripen on the tree past
that point to um to either soft and like golden
to reddish brown about water by weight, or all the
way to self preserved wrinkled and deep brown like a

(07:22):
like a very large raisin um, which will only be
about water by weight. And I think I've only ever
had them when they're at that final stage. Um. You
can apparently eat them when they are mature and still
brightly colored, though I've read that they're a little bit chalky. Um,
I'm not sure. I've seen recipes for pickling fresh dates

(07:43):
at that stage, which I'm super interested in. Now, Oh
me too, pickled dates, right? I mean yeah, you can
also you can also pickle the preserved ones, and that
is something I am also interested in, but both both. Yes, yeah,
we're big pickling fans. Every Yes, vinegar is great. Um.

(08:06):
But yeah, So each fruit has a thin edible skin
it's almost like a like a crisp milty crust when
they're dried, and then an oval of dense flesh around
a single hard, oblong seed. The tissue between the seed
and the flesh tends to go a little bit like
papery as the fruit dries, and when dates are served,

(08:27):
they are sometimes pitted and then sometimes stuffed with other
things the way that you'd treat and and olive. Cheese
is really good in their or nuts, chocolate, other dried
fruit herbs of various kinds all also common. M hmm,
you just reminded me. There's a dish that I love
in Atlanta that is cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon.

(08:50):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, bacon wrapped dates are nice. They are,
that's delicious. They are, Oh goodness. Um. Date palm trees
can grow up to like seventy five ft tall. That's
like twenty three um, and right, all the fruit grows

(09:10):
up at that crown of the tree, so to harvest
it you have to either climb the dang tree or
more modernly, use a lift. But hoofta indeed, yea and yeah.
Dates can be eaten like straight as a snack, or
or stuffed or wrapped with things. As an appetizer, you
can soak them in like tea or alcohol. As a treat,

(09:33):
you can chop them up and add them to sweet
or savory stews. Salads, baked goods, blend them up and
use them as an alternative to other sweeteners in any
dish that you like. Um. They can also be processed
into a paste or syrup or oils or vinegars or wine.
Mm hmm mm hmmm, so good. All right, Well what

(09:57):
about the nutrition. Uh, the more dried out they are,
the more nutritionally dense dates are. Makes sense. Yeah, Um,
they've got a punch of sugar and fiber, a little
bit of protein. Um, lots of great micronutrients in there.
They will help fill you up. Um. I'd say pair
with more protein and or fat to help keep you going.

(10:18):
But like, they're pretty good pick me up. Um. The
fiber in them helps you digest the sugars more slowly,
so you're less likely to spike and crash. Let's watch
your portion sizes. But yeah, m hmmmm um. They have
traditionally been used for potential medical benefits. Um, from like

(10:39):
brain health to healthy labor and everything in between. Um,
but you know savor savor motto. Yeah, we don't even
just say it at this point. We trust that you
know what, We trust that it's playing in your brain
right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, or Okay, if if anyone
knew is listening, the official unofficial Saver motto is, uh,

(11:02):
nutrition is complicated. No, wait, hold on, what is it? Heck,
you don't even Oh my goodness, Um, bodies are complicated.
More research is necessary before consuming a medicinal amount of anything.
You should consult a doctor who is not us. Yeah,

(11:24):
there you go, eat vegetable drinks and water. Wow, I'm
glad we did that. We all apparently apparently. Um. Also,
just randomly, like I wanted to shout out a website.

(11:46):
The website is sorry. That url is healthline dot com, um,
which sounds like it's gonna have a billion pop ups
and like do you wrong? But it's actually a really
great resource of compiled research about the nutrition of stuff. Um.
And it's got some other medical medical things in there,
but I often use it when I'm putting together these

(12:07):
nutrition sections. Um. It just it's it's pretty great about
saying like, hey, here's what we actually know, here's what's
kind of uh culturally rumored, here's what's scientifically not proven yet, um,
and here's why, but in a pretty digestible, no pun
intended way. Well, I'm going to say pun intended, Yes,

(12:33):
great resources. Indeed, we do have some numbers for you. Huh.
As of seventeen ish, there were about a hundred million
date palm trees grown for their fruit around the world.
Uh huh. At least forty varieties of dates are grown commercially,

(12:55):
and nine million tons of dates were produced in nineteen
that's met trick tons. Hum, and this represents steady growth
of the industry. Um. It was about two million metric
tons as of nineteen sixty two and about seven million
in two thousand five, So just shooting right up. Um.

(13:15):
Overall in the world, Egypt grows the most, followed by Iran, Algeria,
Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. California produces the most in
the United States, and we exported thirty nine point six
million pounds of fresh dates valued at eighty seven point
five million dollars from twenty twenty to twenty one. Arizona

(13:36):
also grows them. And actually I would love for listeners
to write in because I read several interesting articles about
how they sell chocolate covered dates some universities in Arizona,
like like at the University bookstore. I want to know
all about that. Yes, and a few other hot states
across the southern US grows them, though at a smaller scale.

(13:59):
In the United States, date browers double to triple their
sales during Ramanan Wow m hm. Meanwhile, the US imported
about fifty three point one million pounds of fresh dates
valued at seventy point eight million dollars same year one,
possibly more for processing than for eating fresh. Uh. We

(14:23):
also imported nearly a million pounds of processed dates that year.
So just lots of dates, Yeah, lots of dates indeed.
And they have had a fascinating stor Oh they have, yes,
And we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from a quick break forward from
our sponsors and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So. Yes.

(14:53):
Dates have a long history, a history that we can
trace through art, literature, carvings, coins, carvings on coins, stone panels.
Historians believe they are one of the first investigated fruit
tree crops. Uh. They most likely were domesticated in the
Persian Gulf around six thousand years ago, and then were

(15:14):
introduced to North Africa soon after. Further evidence just the
date was present in India around the same time, but
the fossil record indicates their ancestors go back fifty million years.
Yeah yeah. The exact origins of date agriculture have been

(15:35):
traced to what's now southern Iraq or western India, but
at any rate, um, it was in Egypt by like
two thousand BC. At least ancient Egyptians used date fronds
in hieroglyphs to depict a month, like a month that's

(15:56):
in a unit of time. Interesting oh yeah um. Dates
are also mentioned in ancient Assyrian and Babylonian tablets from
around that time, including the kind of Hamma Rabbi Uh.
Some of the laws that lays out concerned the agriculture
and the sale of dates, and the historical record tells

(16:16):
us that dates have yes long been used medicinally, with
upwards of three hundred and sixty five listed medicinal and
colarny uses that we know of from like around this time,
including as a stand with me now yeah, I'm sure
Andrew will make that sound like time, sure, yeah yeah um.

(16:43):
And also they have long been viewed as symbols of fertility.
Perhaps because of this, the date has been featured on coins.
Um is the subject of many pieces of art, and
several pieces of literature have been written about it. Um,
they're our poems you can go find, you know, we
love food poems. Dates were mentioned, and not just mentioned,

(17:06):
but praised in the Bible, the Torah and the Koran,
and thus have a religious importance for a lot of people.
Some speculate it is the forbidden fruit mentioned in the Bible,
as opposed to the apple. They have been known as
the poor man's candy and bread of the desert. In
Greek mythology, the date was linked to the phoenix and

(17:28):
plenty of The elder wrote that if the phoenix made
its nest, it would do it atop a date tree.
Huh yeah, okay, So so here's here's some more etymology
for you. All right, So the word phoenix in Greek
was tied to the Phoenician civilization Um, and phoenix seems

(17:51):
to have been a word for both the date palm
and its fruit um, which the Greek's got from the Phoenicians.
The fruit, not the word um, and possibly phoenix was
also used as a word for certain shades of purple,
because the Greek's also got this one die color from

(18:11):
the Phoenicians, that was this color of purple um, and
also also for the mythological bird. Okay, yeah, um, but
researchers disagree about all of this and how it got
applied to the fruit because of like the color or
the origin or whatever. Anyway, did you ever, uh segway,

(18:36):
did you ever play file Pacy seven? No? I didn't. Actually,
this is great news for me. Even though that's a
great game. Let's just say it's the big inspiration for
our D and D campaign. There's a summon in there
that's the Phoenix, and it's the best summon are one
of the best summons in my opinion, because it not
only does damage to the other, to the enemy, but

(18:58):
it brings anybody who's dead back to life in the party,
and it heals everybody what hundred there you may or
may not have encountered. It's recently uh in one of
our past sessions. Yeah, okay, duly noted. They're very I

(19:21):
love that seven. It's a whole plat point in that game.
There's so many things that we have in the campaign
where I'm like, has anyone played this? Will they know?
I suspect that everyone but me has played it in
that campaign, So maybe don't, like yelled, I was about
to say, like Ben Dylan Joe, don't listen to this.
That's not how that would work. It's not gonna it's

(19:44):
definitely not gonna spoil anything. Okay. It was really more
of a like, Hi, this is a plot point that
I really enjoyed in a sum and I really liked
this game. That's all. Oh my goodness, that's fabulous. Um Okay,
back to date the fruit though, um, uh so uh
so so just generally about their their popularity among all

(20:08):
of these cultures, uh, stemming from this early time. You know,
dates are calorically dense, right, um, and their branches and
fibers and timber are useful in materials construction, and they
grow in places where other stuff simply does not. A
paper that I read from two thousand seven from the

(20:30):
journal Hearts Science Positive. Without dates, no large human population
could have been supported in the desert regions. The caravan
roots existed for centuries mainly for the transportation of dates. Wow,
so like major food source, very important, and so of
course you know, like of course they got like culturally,

(20:51):
uh spun out into all of these other associations and
artworks and cultural meanings and yeah, yeah wow, that's amazing,
and yeah, throughout history, dates were favored because they had
a long shelf life and they were easily transportable through trade.

(21:12):
Dates were introduced to Europe, and records show that they
were in Spain, France, Greece and Italy quite early on.
Um they were staple in places like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
Egypt and Iran by the eighteen hundreds and most likely
far far earlier than that. Yeah, the spread of Islam
would turn out to be particularly influential here because that
brought dates to Spain, and then the Spanish spread the

(21:34):
crop during colonization. Right and speaking of Spanish, Conquisadors introduced
dates to Mexico and California in the fifteen hundreds and
in fact, going back to dates in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt,
that area um a siege during the eighteen hundreds. During

(21:56):
a siege in the eighteen hundreds, thousands of date trees
were destroyed in a bid to force locals to surrender,
but there were plenty of date trees left and they refused.
Twenty six new varieties of dates were introduced to Indian
Pakistan in eighteen sixty nine and seventy five at date
trees were sent to Jamaica in eighteen nine, so going

(22:18):
all over, going all over UH. And speaking of yes,
dates were introduced to Arizona by the eighties. The U
s d A was working around that time to find
and introduce crops to the public, consumers and farmers and
the business sector that could become economically important, and dates
were among them. And yeah. Of note, at this time,

(22:41):
dates weren't really popular in the US from what I
can gather um and this resulted in a few were
a poorly thought out or flat out racist and marketing
campaigns romanticizing and reinforcing problematic stereotypes of the Middle East
that marketing campaigns in the US. However, many of these
campaigns were successful in popularizing the date. However, this wasn't

(23:10):
the only angle marketers, growers, and distributors took in this country.
In the town of India, California, launched their annual Date Festival,
which did include several Middle Eastern UH themed sets and events.
A fellow from this area named Floyd Shields started selling

(23:31):
dates in nineteen four and he got creative with marketing
as well, putting together an automated fly show called the
Romance and sex Life of the Date, which was a
very scandalous title at the time. Yeah, it was. Yeah anyway, sorry,

(23:51):
like I watched it and it's I'm going and flustered
thinking about it. It is very scandalous for you right now,
like is no. I was just kind of surprised, that's all. Anyway,
he really leaned into that kind of scandalous aspect. He
named two varieties of dates, blonde and brunette, and in

(24:16):
nineteen thirty six he debuted date crystals, which easily dissolved
into liquids and helps lead to a very popular drink
that I had never heard of. Okay, yes, let's get
into this. Sure. During prohibition, a non alcoholic drink called
the date milkshake took off in Coachella Valley, and this

(24:40):
was a really popular concoction of milk, ice cream and
local sweet dates. The U. S d A determined that
the region was ideal for growing the date tree in
d um which, by the way, there's a lot of
really fun kind of rabbit holes in this one. This
is a fascinating story. Apparently was introduced by a so

(25:01):
called agricultural explorer um and you can there's I think
there's a book about it, and I read some excerts
and it's like involves shootout, some illness and like all
these things to get this street into California. So I
been looking it up. Yeah yes, um. But most sources

(25:23):
suggest that the date milkshake was first served in nine
and from what I understand, I'm sure many of you
listeners will confirm, and I'm very eagerly awaiting it. You
can still find it on a lot of menus and
all kinds of places in that area. Um. And it's
often described as I must have for tourists who are

(25:44):
visiting during peak times. Some places tell about five hundred
of these shakes a day. Uh yeah um. And interestingly,
experts say that we can trace every Madule date grown
in the US to one oasis in Morocco. Okay, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. Dates might have experienced a bump with sugar

(26:08):
rashing during the World Wars. Uh. And then in nineteen
seventy one, archaeologists discovered an ancient Egyptian artifact composed of
plated date palm leaves over two thousand years old at least.
This was a significant fine for a lot of reasons.
One of the big ones is that it allowed for
scientists to later sequence the DNA of the date they discovered.

(26:31):
This ancient date is very genetically similar to the modern
day North African variety of date. Oh gosh, it was
so fascinating. There's so many fascinating reads with this one. Yeah, yeah,
mm hmmm. Saudi Arabia is producing half a million tons
of dates in nineteen eighty due to several subsidies, technologies,
and a decree that dates be served as part of

(26:52):
meals for the government and civic institutions. And in my
personal experience, which is I found some stuff backing it up,
but this was sort of me anecdotally remembering. I feel
like dates got a boost here in the US anyway,
with health trends um in the nineties and the two thousands. Yeah. Um,

(27:14):
one brand pivoted to focus on the health aspect in
their sales, had doubled one brand selling dates, and they
really leaned into that health part. And I just remember
them kind of suddenly in my view, other than my
friend Rizzo, who was always like rates, I thought, I
remember them appearing in like a lot of smoothie places,

(27:35):
like they were like, we sweeten it with dates, right, sure, Yeah, yeah,
or a lot of baked goods or something like that.
We're like, oh, yeah, we use dates instead of traditional sugars. Yeah, rights, right,
right right. Um. Recent droughts in California have had a
significant impact on California's date production. And then a very

(27:57):
another very interesting story in the two thousand's, ancient Judean
date seeds were treated from an archaeological dig sprouted after
much care and just yeah, a really fascinating journey spanning
to millennia, like it's it's so good. Um, it's such
a um. Basically, someone named Dr Salon made it her

(28:22):
mission to grow older date seeds, and her first array
started the seeds from the nineteen sixties that did sprout,
and she named the first plant Methuselah, but alas it
was a male plant, which isn't great by itself. Um.
And then several more discoveries paved the way for this
newest one to sprout that made the news recently, and

(28:45):
it's one of the oldest known seeds to have ever sprouted.
Yeah okay, So so the first like like two millennia
old date seed that they got to sprout was in
two thou eight. UM. It was called Methuselah, and six
more successful germinations of ancient seeds followed. So that's seven

(29:09):
total plants out of thirty five that they tried with,
which is pretty cool. Um. The other six were named Hannah, Adam, Judith, Buzz, Dona,
and Auriel. Um and Methuselah. The oldest Write might have
been grown um like as a seed, like the tree

(29:30):
that it came from might have grown it as early
as three BC. Um. The the youngest Uriel might have
been grown in CE. And so they got these, they
got these seeds to german eate, and then they set
about mapping the genomes of these new ancient trees, which

(29:55):
is super exciting because you know, like although prior work
like with that with that braided palm frond, Matt, Yeah,
prior work looking at the genetics of ancient palms was
relying on cellular material that's thousands of years old, you know,
like it's seen better days, right, Um, But these new

(30:15):
samples are fresh and Yeah. So basically they they took
all of these and mapped the genomes and they all
genetically resemble modern date palms, meaning that the trees the
people the people were cultivating back then we're successful, like
they had already figured them out and humans have kept

(30:36):
them through to today. Um. Yeah. There's also some like
specific stuff that you learned about interactions with wild species
over the years and uh production of of color and
sugar and micronutrients. Um. Kind of beyond the scope of
the show, but really cool, just so neat. Yeah yeah,
and I highly recommend if you're the least bit interested

(31:00):
ing it up, because it has a lovely kind of
you can feel the passion of the people in pursuing
this the names. I remember the doctor Salon wanted to
Methuselah to be a father like um and I believe
they tried some of the dates and they were good.
Oh I didn't read about that part. Oh that's so

(31:21):
cool though. I'm pretty sure because the doctor was like,
what if it would have been terrible if they tasted badly,
wouldn't sure, Yeah, it would have been terrible. But you know,
it's amazing all of these fines with dates um in
this history of how important they've been. Uh. I love it.

(31:45):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Really this was a really this
this this episode really hit all of my like categories
of weird stories that I love to look into and tell.
So yes, the date, well, I think that's what we
have to say about it for now. It is. We

(32:06):
do have some listener mail for you, and we will
get into that as soon as we get back from
one more quick break for a word from our sponsors,
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with listener go on a good date. I

(32:33):
don't know, okay, yeah, yeah, uh, I did want to
start with I did want to start this one with
some housekeeping, just briefly, because some of you listeners do
send us packages, which we very much appreciate. Never an obligation,
but we do appreciate it. We're actually our office is
moving within the coming month. Yeah. Yeah. End of May

(32:58):
is the end of our tenure at Pond City Market
and we are moving to a new building. And uh,
I don't know our address yet. I'm sure, I'm sure
it exists. Um, if you if you write to us
as always, UM, we can find it and give it
to you. Yes, um. But I'm I'm not totally positive

(33:19):
when we will be able to receive mail there. Um,
but we can check with our staff. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
I did because it's kind of been on our radar
for a minute now, and only last night did I
actually locate where it's uh yeah. It was also only

(33:40):
like four days ago that we got the notice that
like the end of May is when we no longer
have access to that office. So um, so yeah, we'll
just you know, if you happen to have something physical
that you would like to send us in the physical mail,
as always, reach out and we'll figure out something. Yes,

(34:00):
we will figure it out. Just wanted to put a
little note up there. Um that sounded like a panicked Um,
I am a little panicked about packing out my dad.
Me too, me too. I've got heck, I've I've got
like ten years worth of office crap there. I'm I'm

(34:24):
like the bottom drawer of my desk is just snacks
and it's got to go, and I hate throwing my food. Yeah, well, alright, Okay,
it's gonna it's gonna be okay, Annie, thank you, I'm
going to get through this. We are we are okay,

(34:50):
and wrote I've listened to your podcast since the early
days of food Stuff, but never wrote in until now,
because your current episode brought back lots of childhood memories.
I grew up in the countryside in Finland, and currents
of both red and black as well as gooseberries are everywhere. Literally,
I think everyone's garden had at least a couple of
bushes so that they can make some juice or jam

(35:13):
for their family. My grandparents had a big house with
a huge garden and lots of currant bushes. I have
lovely memories of picking the berries with my grandparents every
year towards the end of the summer. Until I was
a young adult. My grandfather would tell me off for
being too slow because I spent more time trying to
avoid spiders and other crawley's that live among the currents

(35:34):
and actually collecting berries. My grandmother would make juice concentrate
of black currents by using a traditional steam and juicer,
which I've never heard of outside of Finland, so not
sure other countries use them. We would have some juice
immediately and freeze some for the year to come as well.
This juice concentrate would essentially be a really thick, strong

(35:54):
flavored liquid that we would then mix with water to drink.
It would have some sugar, but not be overly sweet,
so I don't think it was unhealthy. Currents have lots
of vitamin C, so this would be drink, especially in winter,
to fight off cold and flu. As children, when we
were sick, my mother would mix a little bit of
my grandmother's current juice with hot water and the result
would be a warm, comforting drink that would always make

(36:16):
you feel better. We would be off school, watching cartoons
all day and drinking several crops of this miracle beverage,
and I swear it healed every sore throat and running nose.
I now live in the UK and really miss having
this homemade current remedy. The current drinks here are overly
sweet and definitely more of a treat than medicine. I

(36:38):
hope that one day I'll manage to locate a similar
drink to my grandmother's, or perhaps I will get a
steam juicer and make my own. If I do, I'll
send you guys a photo. Yes, yes, I personally have
never heard of a steam juicer. I'm curious. I know,
I'm like, maybe we should do an episode. All that,

(37:00):
all right, Yeah, but I love this. I love these
memories of picking the fresh currents and making the juice
and freezing it and having it when you were feeling ill. Yeah,
all the nostalgia for that kind of thing is is
so so strong and so wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. I used

(37:20):
to have BlackBerry and blueberry bushes at my house, and
I just remember having such a good time picking those
berries and making things with them. M hm uh. Judy wrote,
I just finished listening to the episode on Easter lamb
cakes and had to tell you about my family's traditions.
My mother in law had always made a lamb cake

(37:42):
for Easter, so when my son celebrated his first birthday
during Holy Week, we naturally celebrated it on Easter, complete
with the lamb cake. We grown ups always had a
great debate on whether you slice it starting at the
head or the butt, and we sometimes thought it would
be very funny if we decapitated it and gave my
on the head. As you will see, this family has

(38:02):
a very dark sense of humor. He promptly picked it
up by the ears and stuck the entire lamb nose
in his mouth. He was very confused by the hysterical
laughter coming from the adults at the table. Since then,
we have made him a lamb cake for every birthday.
It's always near Easter. Anyway, when my mother in law
passed away, my daughter took over the pan and began

(38:23):
making the cake. It went from vanilla to chocolate and then,
inspired by the steel Magnolia's groom cake, my kids thought
it would be funny to make it out of red
velvet cake. We now comment on how disgustingly like road
kill it looks as we consume it. My son still
gets the head and we argue over who will get
the butt. This year it was his twelve year old daughter.

(38:48):
That's fantastic of all. Oh my heck, that is so delightful.
I um, I I will say that when I was
doing the reading for that episode, like nothing made me
happier than all of the blog posts about like people
who make red velvet cake lamp cakes because they think

(39:11):
it's funny. Yeah, it's pretty spectacular. Um, and this this
is humor right up our alley. We got a pretty
big chuckle out of it. Yeah. Yeah, I just love it.
I love every part of it. It's such an interesting tradition.
I love it. No, that's wondering and multigenerational. Oh that's

(39:35):
so wonderful. That's that's just that is just nice. I mean,
very very dark ye all twisted, but like that's that's
really nice. Yeah, agreed, agreed. Well, thanks to both of
those listeners for writing. If you would like to write
to us, that you can. Our email is hello at
saber pod dot com. We're also on social media. You

(39:55):
can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saber
pod and we do hope to hear from you. Savor
is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from my
Heart Radio, you can visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagin and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way