Hey everyone, today I'm going to show you how to make date paste and you're probably wondering what is it and why do I want to make it and what do I use it for. Well first of all, date paste is made from pitted dates and we're going to cook them and then we're just going to blend them up with its own juice and make a nice paste that makes it easy to blend in to different recipes, okay. Now the reason you might want to use date paste instead of white sugar is because of its nutrition profile. It has a lot more vitamins and minerals. You're getting vitamins like, you know, B vitamins, you're getting potassium, you're getting iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, not to mention a good dose of fiber. You're not going to find any of that in white sugar and it also has antioxidants which protect yourselves from oxidative damage. Dates also have a low glycemic index which means they won't spike your blood sugar. Now they also taste really good. The flavor is like a subtle, it's a subtle caramel flavor which goes really well with a lot of recipes. So here's some ideas how you can incorporate some date paste into your recipes. You can try it in your smoothie, you can put it in sauces, in marinades, in your dressings, maybe your whipping up some nice dressings, you can try it in that, you can even try it in baked goods. I haven't done that yet but I'm going to be experimenting with some chocolate chip cookies. I think the flavor is going to go in really well with this and let's see what else. You could do it in, I put it on toast, you know, my almond butter and then I put this instead of jelly. That is delicious. I put it into my oatmeal for breakfast and in some plain yogurt to sweeten it up. So those are just a few ideas. I'd like to hear what you might use it for down below in the comments. So let me know. Now the ratio when you want to incorporate this into a recipe that calls for some kind of sugar, at least with white sugar, you can substitute this one to one. So if a recipe calls for one cup of sugar, then you just add one cup of date paste. Alright, so let's get into showing you how to make this date paste that is simple to make and you're going to love it. So buy yourself some dates that are pitted. That'll make your job a little easier in making this because if they are not pitted, you're going to have to take the pits out because it won't work so well in your blender. Now I'm not really going to measure this out but I'm going to put probably a couple of cups of dates in my pan here. So I like to have this stuff on hand and so I just have extra and it's always ready. Now dates, date paste will keep in your refrigerator a good couple of weeks and you can freeze it if you want to keep it longer but I use it up pretty quick. Alright, so fill your pan with the dates. We're going to add some water to that to cover the dates about an inch or so and we're going to place it on the stove. I'm going to bring it to a boil and then cover it and turn the heat down and simmer it for about 15-20 minutes until the dates are soft. Alright, our dates are done simmering. This is what they look like. They're just nice and soft when you push on them. They just give real easy. That means they're going to blend up nice and easy. We're going to let this cool for just a minute before I put it in the blender because it's super hot. What I'm going to do is I'm going to pour these through a strainer just to get rid of some of the liquid. We don't want all the liquid when we blend this. Alright, so let that cool for a minute. Alright, so we're ready to blend this up. I'm just going to place my dates in the Vitamix. Now, like I said earlier, we're not going to add all the liquid, but we're going to add enough so that it blends and it doesn't get too thin. I don't want it too thin. So we'll just add some and we'll just run it and see how it is. We want it to be the consistency of something like applesauce, maybe just a little thicker. You're going to want to push down the dates into the blender a few times because it tends to lift up and then it doesn't really mix very well. So we're going to add some more liquid to that because we're not getting too much action here. I'm going to add a couple more spoonfuls and that should do it. So just keep adding a little bit of liquid at a time until you get a nice thick consistency that will blend up. Let me show you here. I'm going to pour this into a mason jar and you can see with the consistency that we're looking for. Now, doesn't that look delicious? I'm going to take a little taste just because as well. I like to taste it. Love that and it's warm too. It's really good. It's warm. Peppity good on ice cream. Vanilla ice cream? Oh my gosh. So delicious. That nice subtle caramel flavor. You're going to love it. I've got a recipe for you. You can try this. I've already used this one time in one recipe. My sweet and hot chicken wings. I'll leave a link for you down in the description. There's also another video you can try this in that I didn't actually use it in the video but I did it at another time. That's my Asian turkey bowls. I added a little bit of this about a heaping tablespoon to the sauce. Wow. It was delicious. So check that out. I'll leave the link down there for you as well. Alright, thanks for watching everybody. Don't forget to like, subscribe and share the video and leave me a comment. Let me know if you're going to make it. Alright, we'll see you next time. Take care.