An examination of the flowers of a young tree may not necessarily be very helpful in revealing its true sex. The fruit of the date has one seed and can vary in size, shape, colour and quality of flesh. Unripe dates are green in colour, maturing to yellow, then reddish-brown when fully ripe. Each tree produces between five and ten bunches. Date palms begin to bear fruit at 3 to 5 years, and are fully mature at 12 years.
Dates are therefore highly nutritious.
Bedouin Arabs, who eat them on a regular basis, show an extremely low incidence rate of cancer and heart disease. As the Holy Qur'an tells us, dates have always been considered beneficial to mothers. The date palm is often the only available staple food for the inhabitants of desert and arid lands, and as such it is vital to millions throughout North Africa and the Middle East. According to the World Food and Agricultural Organisation, there are 90 million date palms in the world and each tree can grow for more than 100 years. 64 million of these trees are grown in Arab countries, which produce 2 million tons of dates between them each year.