Local farmers hope mild winter doesn’t lead to plant problems

this is john kohler with okraw.com. we haveanother exciting episode for you. we're here at the china ranch date farm. this is an amazingplace where they have literally, i don't know, hundreds of date palms growing with dozensof varieties of different dates, and i know most of you guys have only had majule dates,and those are the most common ones, but to me, they suck the most. they taste horribleand i don't like them, because there's so many other varieties that you guys haven'texperienced and some caramelly, and some taste more, i don't know, neugetty, and some aremore sweet, some are more water-rich. they're all a little bit different, so what we'regoanna do in this video is actually go over to the date palms where they're growing andshare some more important information about

the dates that may be available at your localhealth food or even grocery store. now we're standing in the china ranch date palm orchardand there's literally hundreds of varieties of dates, and what i want to share with youguys in this video is my opinions on dates. many people in the raw foods diet may makeone of the staple foods in their diets dates, and maybe even bananas, and eat a lot of thosefor their calories. while i think they're definitely better eating bananas and datesthan, you know, junk food and fast food, i think it's far better to eat a wide varietyof food, and don't make any one food your staple, but make many different kinds of foodyour staple. maybe this week dates are your staple; maybe next week, i don't know, makeanother variety of food. if you want to eat

high calorie foods, make more water-basedfoods a staple. you know, on a daily basis or a weekly basis, i make all different kindsof fruits and vegetables because i don't really have a staple. they're all staples. well,maybe i eat coconuts a bit ore often than not. anyways, i think on a raw foods dietyou really to need to eat a variety of foods and not just one kind all the time. now, ithink dates are an excellent food, especially if you need quick energy or quick caloriesthat can be stored, for example, if you're going hiking or long distance running. datesare small and light and they're raw, and they have high nutrients and high calories, but,you know, i think there's far better foods to eat. so, what i'm going to do next is goto one of my favorite date palms, where you

can actually eat the unripe dates becausethey're a more water-rich fruit, and then i'm goanna go ahead and harvest some freshdates for you guys to share with you what they're like. now we're standing next to thebarhee date palm. this is from iraq. this is one of my favorite dates because you caneat them in the calal stage. the calal stage is the stage when they're not fully ripe andthey may still be yellow. some dates may be nice and astringent when they're yellow, butthe barhee will not be as astringent. when the barhees turn ripe on the vine, they'reso juicy and water-rich and also sweet as well. what i want to do next with you guysis actually go over, and i'll harvest some fresh dates and share some more informationabout them. now, we're next to one of my other

favorite varieties of dates. this is actuallycalled diary dates. i want to show you guys these. you can see there's a whole bunch ofripe dates up in there, and some on the bottom are still red, and when they're red, they'renot fully ripe, but when they get nice and dark they are fully ripe and ready to be harvested,and this is that guy right here. now, of course, picking them fresh off the tree, i know theseguys are truly raw, because, you know what? it's fresh, and i always encourage you guysto eat the freshest food whenever possible, and even harvesting it yourself like i justdid, and remember, freshest is bestest, and, you know, i'm not an english major so i cansay that, and it's also a little catchy slogan that you can remember. 'john says, freshestis bestest,' 'cause the freshest food is always

the bestest food. in any case, if you're nothere to pick your own fresh dates, you know, if you're buying dates from the grocery store,even the health food store, they may be steamed. yes, steamed. they harvest them dry, likesome of the varieties here, like the deglete nors. they harvest them dry. they're so drythat they're called a bread date, and they're rock hard and people won't eat them and peoplewon't buy them, but they save really well and they store well, you know, so the farmerswon't lose their profit. what they do is they steam them to plump them up, and then theysell them to you, but they don't label them that it's been steamed. so, if you are eatingcertain dates, they may be steamed, so be aware of that since they wouldn't be consideredraw. so, for that reason i generally don't

like the deglates and also because the deglatesdon't have a particularly good taste to me. so, the best way to ensure you're gettingraw dates is to order the dates fresh direct form the farmer so that you know that theyharvested them, kept them in a climate controlled situation, and then sold them to you so you'renot getting steamed dates. now we're standing next to a hayayne date palm and this is actuallya high moisture content date. so, if you do choose to eat dates, definitely recommendand encourage you guys to eat the high water content dates. now, this one is a high moisturecontent and also larger dates, so the problem they're having here at the date farm is thatthey tend to ferment faster, you know, before they can sell them. so, they have a limitedshelf life. so, for a date farm that's really

bad but for your health i believe that isreally good, and that's a reason why high moisture dates are not often sold that often,because they can go bad and the farmers would lose their profits. now we're here in thedate palm orchard, and there's literally hundreds of date palms all around me, and, you know,they're all in different stages of growth. some have already been harvested, and someare soon to be harvested, you know, because they have so many different varieties here.some are harvested earlier and some are harvested later. we are here in december, so it lookslike harvest is about â¾ over. so, they still got some harvesting to do. what i want toshare with you guys next is actually that we're going to go up to the date palm, whichis right behind me, and no those are not ghosts

in the tree, they're actually shielding orcovering the dates with a sheet to prevent the birds and other animals from eating them.so, this also protects them. what we're goanna look at now is some fresh dates. so, one ofthe things i like to teach people about is actually eating high water content foods.if you're not eating a food that has a high water content, at least as high as your watercontent, which is about 70-75% if you're healthy, then the foods you're eating are going todehydrate you and take your water form you, and many health conditions can be just simplyalleviated by drinking more water according to a book called the body's many cries forwater, which is where the doctor who wrote the book talks about how just dehydrationcauses many issues. so, why eat foods that

are going to dehydrate you when you couldeat foods that are going to hydrate you instead? most dates that you buy in stores have beendehydrated or have been naturally sundried to a moisture level of maybe 20-25%. so, that'snot a lot of water. for example, a watermelon is like 93% water. so, that actually increasesyour water content. dates, because they can be as low as 20-25% will definitely seal yourwater form you, but because we're here at the date farm today, we're going to show youguys actually under this bunch, we're going to show you the dates in different stagesof the ripening process. this is all the dates that are hanging here on the date palm, andas you can see they're in different stages of ripeness. these guys are actually not yetripe, and if you took one of these guys and

tried to eat it, it's actually chewy, mildlysweet, but tastes like that unripe hichea persimmon. it sucks the saliva out of yourmouth and not so good. now, this sis actually very water rich. if i squeeze this then thewater's goanna come out if i squeeze it. almost, and there are some varieties of dates thatyou can eat in this stage that won't be so astringent. if we go aback underneath hereagain, and we try to get one that's maybe a little bit, a couple shades lighter. thisis not that brown or dark black that you're used to, but it's more of a tan color, thisis actually very squishy, and, you know, it's rare that they sell these at a store or atmarket because what happens is that if they're this moist they may go bad on you. so, thisone, if i bite into it, much more water content

than the dried ones, but not quite as sweet.man, this is delicious. it kind of tastes like caramel to me, and if you save your datepits, these will actually grow into another palm. finally let's go ahead and grab onemore date. next, we're going to grab one of these guys that's much more dark, and here'sone right here, and this one's much more dark. so, this one's much more ripe and much moredry, and this one has a lower water content and when the water content lowers, the sugarcontent goes up. this one is so sweet, but this one is probably stealing my water becausethe water isn't so high. i want to encourage you guys actually to eat high water contentfoods, and while dates i think are an excellent snack and can really replenish you becausethey're rich in a lot of different nutrients

including fiber, vitamin a, some of the vitaminb's, and things like magnesium, and calcium and iron, and even some antioxidants are containedwithin dates, i think it's far better to eat some fresh fruits, some high water contentfruit, such as some of the berries for some antioxidants and some water content, and alsothey're so delicious. so, for me personally, i rarely eat dates. they're not necessarilya staple in my diet, and i don't; recommend that you guys make dates a staple to yourdiet either, but then again, you know, i always recommend good, better, best. if eating datesare goanna prevent you form eating some, you know, hard candies, then i think it's definitelya good idea. so, i hope you guys enjoyed this episode, learning more about my opinions onthe dates. if you want more information about

ordering some the best dates around, pleasevisit chinaranch.com. that's the farm that i'm at today, and be sure to check out myother videos. i actually have a specific video about covering more about china ranch thani did in this episode, which is more talked about what i think about dates on a raw foodsdiet. so, i want to encourage you guys to eat water-rich foods whenever possible, butif they're not available or you're travelling, then i think dates are an excellent substitute.i might eat dates, i don't know, maybe a couple times a month, and they're by no means a staplein my diet, and i don't believe they should be a staple in yours either. once again, myname is john kohler with okraw.com we'll see you next time, and remember; keep eatin' yourfresh fruits and vegetables, they're the best.

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