Drying dates

Arabic has several words for dates: “balah” are dried dates, the kind you might find chopped up in some breakfast cereals in the States. When they’re in season, though, you can also get “rotab”, or fresh dates, and then there are “adua”, which are dates that are half-dried, brown and wrinkly, but still soft, and at their sweetest stage. Here are some fresh dates drying, next two a couple of ripening mangoes. The kids have been coming and snatching the dates just when they’re starting to get to “adua”, like the brown one in the close-up.

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