Though harvested in an eight to 10-week period, typically in September and October, fresh California dates are marketed year-round.

D.J. Ryan, sales and operation manager of SunDate LLC in Coachella, CA, said a very important discovery was made several years ago that has extended the shelf life of the fruit. “After four or five months in cold storage, there is a bit of caramelization of the fruit,” he said. “You can see the sugar start to form on its edges.  However, it was discovered that you could freeze a date, take it out of the freezer a year later and it would be exactly how it was when it went in.”

Consequently, SunDate began freezing the majority of the fruit that was not sold during the fall period. The firm has been using a commercial freezer, but this year it built its own freezer on property for greater control of the process.  

Harvest began during the last week of August and will continue through October.  During that time period, Ryan said about 20 percent of the production will be sold in this early fall period, with the other 80 percent destined for the freezer. He would not reveal the size of the firm’s crop but it is in the millions of pounds, and he said SunDate is the largest distributor of dates in the United States.  

The company is a partnerships between Anthony Vineyards and Chuchian Ranch, serving as the grower, packer and shipper of the dates of those two firms. SunDate also has some of its own acreage.

Ryan said this year’s early start could help the industry get all the fruit off the trees before any rain falls and creates a problem. Though California is in a drought, an El Nino has been predicted and could bring rain in the September-October time frame. Ryan said a small amount of rain can be tolerated, but monsoonal rains, which last occurred two years ago, are problematic.  “Right now the crop looks really good,” he said of the fruit harvested during the first two weeks of picking.

Like several other California date firm, SunDate is in a growth mode capitalizing on the increasing popularity of dates. Ryan said the company has many new acres in the ground that are just beginning to produce, so volume should increase continuously for the next few years. That new production also includes a fair amount of organic dates.  “Organic is the newest push for us,” he said. “Right now about 30 percent of our production is organic and we are moving toward having more than 50 percent organic.”

The company offers dates in many different packs and value-added options, handling more than 50 different date SKUs. Ryan said the most popular configuration for Medjool dates is the eight-ounce pack, but the company also offers a one and two pound club pack as well as bulk dates.

The company also grows a fair amount of acreage of the Deglet Noor variety, which is sold often in the dried form for processing uses.

Ryan said Coachella Valley has been the center of the California date industry for more than 100 years, with dates first propagated in the area around 1905.

Ryan has visited date production in the Middle East, in both Israel and Tunisia, and said you can hardly distinguish between the topography in those areas and that of the Coachella Valley. He said if you were just dropped in the area and didn’t know where you were, you could easily think you were in the Coachella Valley.  

“It’s no wonder the Coachella Valley is a great date-producing area,” he said.