How to Keep Dates Soft All Year

A date keeps breathing after it is picked, and most of what people complain about - hardening, a white bloom, a sour edge - comes from where it was kept, not from the fruit itself. The first rule: dates have three enemies, heat, air and light. Keep the box closed, and do not leave an open plate out beyond the hours you are serving. That sealed inner bag is not extra packaging; it is what stops the surface drying. In summer, put the box in the fridge. Cold halts ripening and keeps the fruit soft. After a few weeks a thin white film may appear on the skin: that is the date's own sugar rising to the surface, not mould. Leave the fruit out for ten minutes before serving and it disappears. For larger amounts, freezing holds dates for a full year with no real change. Split them into bags the size of a week's use - taking the whole lot out and putting it back again and again is what spoils them. And if dates harden anyway, do not throw them out. Shut them in a container overnight with a slice of bread or a strip of orange peel: they draw back enough moisture to soften, or mill them into paste for filling and sweetening.