The Love Affair Begins
I have had a lot of milk shakes in my life but not until well into my adult life did I experience the creamy deliciousness of a date shake. It was shortly after I moved to Santa Fe that we took a road trip to San Diego. We stopped for gas on Hwy. 80, the southern route through Arizona. I noticed a sign written in big red letters above the windows of a small building: Date Shakes. “What’s a date shake”, I asked Michael. A few minutes later I was given a sip of heaven from his large cup. Better to me than any chocolate, strawberry or my childhood favorite peach shake that I had ever had.
Making the experience even better, Michael decided to take a short ride down a local road, away from busy traffic. We found the palm trees! We were the only ones there, so we parked on the side of the road. I had my first experience of seeing and walking among the tall date palms.
How the Date Shake Came to America
Back home in Santa Fe and perusing the internet I came across an interesting article on NPR’s site. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/10/320346869/forbidding-fruit-how-america-got-turned-on-to-the-date. In 1898 the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent out explorers throughout the world. Their task was to look for exotic foods that could grow in the United States. Unknown, exotic and delicious foods…what a great idea! At the same time, the early 20th Century, people had an obsession with Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba. So you can understand why Iraq would be on the exploration list. And where you have Iraq, you have dates. These lovely fruits eventually found their way to ideal farmland in Coachella Valley in California.
Palm springs is in Coachella Valley, so if you are headed there, treat yourself to a shake. You can pretty much find them all over town. They were on the menu when we had lunch at Kings Hwy Restaurant at the Ace Hotel: https://roadtosuchness.compalm-springs-kings-hwy-at-the-ace-hotel
The Basic Recipe
Date Shake
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1 Cup Dates ...Medjool Dates, still fresh and soft
- 2 Cups Vanilla Ice Cream
- !/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
Instructions
- Blend dates in 1/2 cup milk, or more if necessary. Add remainder of milk and pulse until dates are not more than specks. Add ice cream and nutmeg and pulse gently, only until all ingredients are well blended.
