I recently used dates in a chutney recipe; it’s the first time I can remember using them in a cooked dish, and they are a fruit which takes me back to my childhood.
I have two associations with dates, one is Christmas, we always had dates, which seemed so plump and sticky and delicious; the ones I bought for the recipe seemed smaller and slightly dry, but still full of flavour! The ones I remember were so sticky and squished together in the long oval boxes that they had to be prized out with the little wooden stick; if I had known the word unctuous as a child that is how I would have described them. I remember them particularly in my early childhood when we lived in a ground floor flat; there was a coal fire in the sitting room which had wooden polished floorboards with a carpet in the middle (necessity not fashion, we couldn’t afford a fitted carpet!) We had a three-piece suite round the fire, a wooden cabinet radio and a sideboard along the wall opposite the fire. There was also a bookcase, full of books of course! I remember it as a cosy room, particularly at Christmas time, when we had all sorts of treats, including dates!
The second memory concerning dates is to do with my Aunty Audrey; she was my godmother and a wonderful aunty to all her nieces and nephews, so kind and generous with time as well as in more material ways. Before she moved into her own little house, she lived in a bed-sit in a house belonging to a dear old lady called Mrs Brewer and would have her nieces and nephews round for tea parties, at that time it was just me and my sister Andy, and cousins Robin and Diana, before more cousins came along! She wasn’t very well-off but would always make imaginative treats for us, one of which was date rolls; these were little bridge rolls, filled with chopped up dates I think she bought blocks of dried date and sliced that, rather than separate dates in their little oval tray.
I use dates now to make date and walnut cake, to stuff with almonds or marzipan, or other nice things, but I never ever use them without thinking of Christmas and date rolls!
Lois Elsden 