Do any supermarkets have cheap medjool dates?

[loveganism]

I eat a lot of medjool dates, but they're pretty expensive. Tesco's does a small box of organic dates (about 12) for £2. Waitrose are more expensive for non-organic. Does anyone know if ASDA, Morrison's, Sainsburys etc do them for a reasonable price?

[Mr Flibble]

None that i know

[cedarblue]

a while ago i did buy reasonable medjool dates from asda but haven't looked or been in there for a while now.

[harpy]

FWIW there are some fairtrade organic ones here, which you can order in bulk

http://www.naturalcollection.com/products/zaytoun/zaytoun-palestinian-medjool-dates-250g/

Suspect the prices aren't exactly rock bottom, even though I don't know how many dates you'd get in 250g

[Mr Flibble]

Not many.

Tesco organic are £1.97 for 200g (10-12 dates).

[loveganism]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Will check out Asda & Natural Collection to see if I get more dates for my money than Tescos. I'm addicted to making nut and seed mylks at the moment and they're the best sweetener- the dregs taste like caramel :)

[Mr Flibble]

It should possibly be mentioned that the ones harpy linked to are Palestinian grown. I'd personally avoid Israeli dates sold in supermarkets, as I believe there's a chance they're grown in settlements:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israeli-dates.php

[harpy]

Yes am not keen on buying Israeli stuff at the moment, although I sometimes make exceptions if it's organic :confused:

[loveganism]

I think I've only ever seen Israeli dates in stores... what other countries grow dates?

[Mr Flibble]

God bless wikipedia:

"Medjool or (Mujhoolah) (Arabic: 'unknown') — from Morocco, also grown in the USA, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel; a large, sweet and succulent date."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_dactylifera#Cultivars_of_dates

[loveganism]

Just found these in case anyone's interested, they're fairtrade & grown in Tunisia. Not medjool though- look like deglet nour:

http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/suma/organic-fairtrade-pitted-dates-250g/

£1.99 for 250g

I recently bought some Israeli deglet nour dates for about £2.70 from Waitrose, so these are cheaper :)

[loveganism]

haha, yeah, wikipedia is indeed king! I've never seen medjools from any of those places so will keep an eye out :)

[loveganism]

Ouch. The same company has 250g packets of medjools for £4.69.

Maybe I need to admit defeat and accept medjools aint cheap!

[Mr Flibble]

haha, yeah, wikipedia is indeed king! I've never seen medjools from any of those places so will keep an eye out :)

Sainsbury Organic in my local store are from the USA:

http://www.twitpic.com/1g2jpt

Very tasty too.

[Charlotte]

I've got them occasionally from market stalls and greengrocers/organic shops. Could tell you where from Nottingham and Sheffield but it won't be much help.

Try middle eastern food shops too?

[loveganism]

That's a great idea, Charlotte! Thanks too, Pob! :)