Resurrecting "the dates that Jesus ate"

CULTIVATING ARCHAEOLOGY: Aided by Modern Ingenuity, a Taste of Ancient Judean Dates. The harvest of the much-extolled, but long-lost Judean dates was something of a scientific miracle. The fruit sprouted from seeds 2,000 years old (Isabel Kershner, New York Times).

Yummy:

“They are beautiful!” exclaimed Dr. Sarah Sallon with the elation of a new mother, as each date, its skin slightly wrinkled, was plucked gently off its stem at a sunbaked kibbutz in southern Israel.

They were tasty, too, with a fresh flavor that gave no hint of their two-millenium incubation period. The honey-blonde, semi-dry flesh had a fibrous, chewy texture and a subtle sweetness.

And here's an entrepreneurial idea:

Aside from Dr. Sallon’s interest in their medicinal properties, there was some banter among the institute staff about mass producing the old-new fruit, with an eye to marketing the fruit as “the dates that Jesus ate,” and using the funds for research.

Background on the resurrection of these ancient date plants is here and links.

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