Simple Date Paste

Ingredients

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• 1 cup pitted dates, preferably Medjool
• 1/2-3/4 cup hot water
• 1 tsp lemon juice (optional)
• 1 pinch salt (optional)

Method

1. Place the pitted dates in a bowl.
2. Cover with hot water and soak 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Add the dates and 1/2 cup of the soaking water to a blender or food processor.
4. Blend until smooth.
5. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the thickness you want. For thick spreadable paste, use about 1/2 cup water per 1 cup dates. For a thinner date syrup substitute, use 3/4 to 1 cup water per 1 cup dates.
6. Stir in the lemon juice and salt if using.
7. Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks, or freeze in small portions up to 3 months.

About the ingredients

pitted dates, preferably Medjool Phoenix dactylifera

Sugar is intrinsic to the whole fruit, not added; fiber matrix intact. Distinct from date syrup (refined). Sometimes assumed too-sugary to be WFPB, but whole dates are canonical.

hot water

Plain potable water (H2O). Universal solvent and culinary base, no calories or nutrients beyond trace minerals. Not derived from any organism; an unprocessed essential. WFPB canonical.

lemon juice Citrus limon

Lemon is the acidic tree fruit (hesperidium) of Citrus limon, a Rutaceae shrub of likely Northeast Indian origin. Eaten as fresh fruit, juice, and zest. Rich in vitamin C, citric acid, flavonoids. Whole fruit and its fresh juice are canonical WFPB foods.

salt NaCl

Crystalline sodium chloride, harvested by evaporating seawater or mining rock-salt deposits. Used as seasoning and preservative since antiquity—central to trade and food economies for millennia. A mineral, not a plant food, and a sodium isolate; noncanonical to WFPB.