The California date industry in its promotional efforts focuses on a series of special events at various times of the year, beginning with participation at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit expo, which was held in Anaheim, CA, this year.

The Produce News talked to Lori Cooper, manager of the California Date Administrative Committee and the California Date Commission in Indio, CA, on Oct. 10, just days prior to PMA, about that event and others upcoming in which California Dates would be participating. “We’ve got a new chef” representing California dates at the show, she said.Lorrie Cooper

Eric Theiss is executive chef of the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa near Palm Springs, managing the resort’s six restaurants. “He is very excited about attending the event, and he’s got quite a menu planned” for recipes using dates that show attendees will have the opportunity to sample,” Cooper said.

In early February, California Dates will be participating in a one-evening event called Dates & Wine at the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, in conjunction with the American Heart Association. The event is “a prelude to the Go Red for Women Luncheon” held  a week later, also in the Palm Springs area, she said.

For the Dates & Wine event, AHA issues invitations to its top donors, “and we give them the opportunity to have tastings” of recipes with dates in them, she said. California Dates have been participating in the event for several years, and “it is really a beautiful evening.”

California Dates will also attend the AHA’s Go Red for Women Luncheon. “We have a small exhibit there, and we  provide date tastings for the ladies and gentlemen who attend the luncheon event and the seminars” which are put on by AHA.

That is followed in mid-February by the National Date Festival held in conjunction with the Riverside County Fair in Indio, CA, which attracts nearly 300,000 visitors. At that 10-day event, “we present daily cooking demonstrations with professional chefs throughout the [Coachella] Valley. The audience has the opportunity to enjoy the cooking demonstrations” and sample the results, Cooper said.

In April, California Dates will again work with the California Dietetic Association at its annual conference in Riverside, CA. “We will be exhibiting there and giving out samples, educating dieticians and nutritionists about the nutritional benefits of eating dates on a daily basis,” she said.

The California Date Administrative Committee is a federal marketing order covering date growers in Riverside County, encompassing the date-growing regions of the Coachella Valley. The California Date Commission is a California state marketing order also embracing the date industry in Riverside County.

While there are about 30 varieties of dates grown in the valley, the two largest commercially grown varieties are Medjool and Deglet Noor.

When The Produce News talked to Cooper, the 2014 Medjool harvest was nearing completion and was expected to be finished by about Nov. 1. The Deglet Noor harvest, which started late September, was in full swing and expected to continue through December and “maybe into January,” she said.

“Handlers and growers are telling me that the fruit is looking really good this year — some of the best fruit they have seen in a while,” Cooper said. Yields are a bit lower than in the last few years, “but nothing to be concerned about. They are probably going to end up with a total harvest of somewhere around 40 million to 45 million pounds.” Because of the quality of the crop, the volume of whole dates available for the fresh market is expected to be higher than last year.