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Bard Date Company - Basket Creations and More, LLC is the retail distributor for Bard Date Company, in Yuma, Arizona. They offer superb quality Medjool Dates in the jumbo, large, extra fancy and fancy grades; along with chopped, pitted, and cooking dates. They also carry delicious milk, dark or white chocolate covered date pecan clusters; specialty gift baskets and tins; and more. Shop Online at www.BardDate.com   

History of Medjool Dates
By Debbie Mansheim - Basket Creations & More and Bard Date Company in Yuma, Arizona

The Medjool date was originally grown in the Middle East and was not brought over to the US
until 1927.  

The Medjool Date Palms were dying of the Baioudh disease and this disease was killing off the Medjool almost to extinction.  Dr. Walter Tennyson Swingle who was a botanist with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture acquired eleven disease free Medjool date offshoots in Morocco.  The eleven off shoots were shipped to Washington DC where they received a severe vacuum fumigation.  

The offshoots were then shipped to an isolated location in southern Nevada.  After more than seven years in isolation, nine of the eleven off shoots survived.  After this time it was determined that these offshoots along with an additional 64 offshoots that were taken from the original nine off shoots were transferred to the U.S. Date Garden in Indio, California in the summer of 1935.  Offshoots were then planted in Florida, Texas, Arizona and a few other locations to find the best climate for the Medjool to grow and thrive in.  Through trial and error it was determined that dates need exceptionally high summer temperatures, very low humidity and abundant water for their root supply.  

After much experimentation it was proven that there was only a small part of the southwest that provided the best all-around growing environment for the Medjool Date.  

There is an excellent book titled The Amazing Story of The Fabulous Medjool Date written by Marc Paulsen, who provides detail information concerning how the Medjool Date tree came to the U.S., all the problems and success during the seven years of isolation in Nevada and information concerning all the different processes that must be done to the Medjool to receive the high quality fruit of the Medjool Date.  He also has many great recipes.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Fabulous Medjool Date.