Long before California’s Coachella Valley became the center of pop culture, it was the center of date cultivation in the United States. Date gardens like those of Woodspur Farms were planted with Deglet Noor, Medjool, and dozens of other date palm varieties imported from North Africa and the Middle East in the late 1800s. The company, which has 5,000 acres of date gardens in the Coachella and Yuma Valleys, is now among the largest organic farms in the United States. Though date production peaked in Coachella in the 1950s, as many date farms fell to residential development in California’s desert playground, date consumption is growing steadily. Consumers flock to the chewy fruits that are high in B vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. Dates are now a main ingredient in many energy bars.
