Absurdly easy date juice made from three ingredients: dates, floral water and salt (four - if you're counting the rose and orange blossom water separately).
Before You Start
- If you don't have floral water you can replace this with vanilla extract - start with a quarter or half a teaspoon and adjust as needed.
- Both rose water and orange blossom water can be overpowering so I've kept the amounts here deliberately small. Just enough for the date flavor to still lead.
- The one mistake to avoid which I once made: check the label on packaged dates before you buy. Some "cheaper" dates are cut with vegetable oil which changes both the taste and how the juice comes together.
Why This One's Different
I love making homemade juices. I've been proactively making and sharing Lebanese drink recipes on this blog which all stemmed from my lemonada. The flavors aren't the typical Western supermarket ones - think tamarind juice rather than standard orange or apple (though I do love those!)
Today I'm sharing how to make date juice from scratch. The amber color reminds me of carob juice, just a bit brighter. Come to think of it most of the drinks I've shared recently have been brown, the other one being licorice juice. Anyway, it's not hard at all to make and it's a great way to use up a bunch of dates - especially those that have flaky skins and aren't as fleshy.
Surprise! The flavor of this juice is exactly as expected: it tastes like dates. To make it distinctly Lebanese I've added a hint of floral water.
Ingredients
The complete list of ingredients with measurements, can be found in the full recipe card below.
If you want to keep it simple you can stop at just dates and water. But I add a pinch of Celtic salt (any salt will do) to enhance the sweetness, plus a small amount of orange blossom water and rose water (or just one of the two - I've linked the ones I always use below).
As far as the dates go - don't make the mistake I did once. I assumed a supermarket packet of dates contained only dates. Of course it didn't, I was not impressed to learn they also had vegetable oil in them. Like why be so annoying! I recommend Sayer dates (aka Estameran dates) or similar, which are semi-dry with flaky skin and a dark reddish-brown color. They're super sweet so sugar isn't needed.
If you have left-over dates you could try making my super popular caramel sauce made of dates.
Steeping
I recommend steeping the dates for a minimum of 60 minutes to help soften the dates. You can gauge if this can be quickened by how dry the dates are.
Janelle's Tips
- If you're using dates other than my recommended Sayer dates, you may need to adjust the amount depending on their sweetness. I personally wouldn't use Medjool dates for this recipe as they're not cost-effective here and honestly too good to use this way, it's not to say you can't use them though.
- I found letting the juice stand for 15-30 minutes before straining makes it easier to handle the chunks by letting them settle at the bottom.
- I keep it easy to remember how to make this juice; 1 cup of dates to 4 cups of water. 1:4 ratio.
- Shake well before serving to bring the settled particles back into the juice for max taste.
What I Use to Make This Recipe
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Recipe
Date Juice
Ingredients
- 1 cup Sayer dates (150g / 5⅓oz) see notes above for other dates
- 1 pinch Salt
- ½ teaspoon Rose water
- ½ teaspoon Orange blossom water
- 4 cups Water
Instructions
- Steep the dates in a bowl with 1 cup of boiling water for 60 minutes.
- Transfer the steeped dates with their water to a high-speed blender. Add the salt, rose water, orange blossom water and 3 cups of cold water. Blend for 1 minute.
- Let the juice stand for 15 minutes before straining through a fine sieve or cloth. Discard the pulp.Transfer to a jug, cover and refrigerate until cold. Serve over ice.
Notes
Nutrition
N.B., nutrition info is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. This will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
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