Fresh: Plump and smooth ... Baked fruit: Another magic trick of Alkhatib's is to add dates to baked fruit desserts, amping up out-of-season, or frozen fruit. "Think of it as the sweet version ...

How do we know this? Date stones are regularly found during archaeological digs in North Africa and the Arabian Gulf, where the fruit has formed part of the regular diet for thousands of years.

As dates are harvested in late autumn and early winter, this is when the best selection is available in the shops and they’re more likely to be fresh. There are hundreds of varieties ...