How would you describe this kind of mystery? The crop was praised for its plumpness, sweetness and healing properties, but went extinct centuries ago.
It’s been described as a “historical ghost.” The Judean date palm, a species of tree that grew in Israel and surrounding areas thousands of
years ago, produced a larger, more durable and sweeter variety of date than the fruit we see today. These dates, grown in plantations
around Jericho and the Dead Sea, were recognized by classical writers for their medicinal properties from as far back as the first century.
“The Judean date was used for all kinds of things from fertility, to aphrodisiacs, against infections, against tumours,” said Sarah Sallon, a
researcher at Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center. “This is all part of the folk story.”
Over time, the crop vanished. By the 19th century, the plantations where the date palms once grew were gone.
Now Sallon, who’s been working in Israel with the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies for the past two decades, is leading the push to
resurrect these plants and learn more about their medicinal and nutritional benefits. Thanks to archaeological excavations between 1963
and 1991, including the historic Mount Masada overlooking the Dead Sea, some ancient date seeds were preserved. Sallon and her
colleagues used these seeds to plant new trees about 12 years ago.
The project took immense patience. Date palm trees are either male or female, which means both genders are needed to produce fruit.
The first tree began growing within weeks of being planted, but it was male, and it would only produce pollen. In order to determine
whether the same ancient Judean dates could be grown, the team needed to grow female trees, too.
Last week, the team announced its experiment had finally borne fruit (pun intended). A total of seven date palm trees two female, five male
have germinated, proving the longevity and hardiness of the crop. Sallon published her findings on Feb. 5 in a study in the journal
Science Advances. She’s also working on a children’s book telling the story of the first Judean date palm tree planted in the project a male
tree named Methuselah.
And all the while, Sallon is waiting to see what kind of fruit is produced from her resurrected trees. It might not have the same qualities as
the ancient Judean date. But some improvements over the modern variety might be present, offering an option to people looking for herbal
remedies or just a sweet snack.
“These are something exceptional,” Sallon said of the plants. She said it’s rare to find seeds that are still viable after being extinct for so
long. “It’s a story of nature’s amazing powers to regenerate itself.”
