Medjool

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A variety of large, soft, and sweet edible date fruit often enjoyed fresh or dried ; a particular cultivar of date palm prized for its rich flavor and chewy texture ; a popular type of date frequently used in desserts, snacks, and culinary dishes for its natural sweetness
2. An extensively cultivated type of date fruit known for its plump size and moist, caramel-like taste ; a date palm species yielding fruit commonly eaten as a nutrient-dense snack or natural sweetener ; a prized edible fruit from a specific noble palm, widely harvested for its juicy and tender flesh
3. A sweet and fleshy variety of date fruit well-known for its large size and chewy, moist pulp ; a cultivar of a palm tree producing highly flavorful fruits often consumed directly or incorporated into recipes ; a natural fruit product harvested from specific palms valued for its rich taste and soft texture

Etymology: Medjool dates take their name from an Arabic word, "majhūl," meaning "unknown" or "unidentified." The name is a Moroccan-linked label that reflects how the variety was known in the region, and the word itself is built on the Arabic root for "not known," the same root that gives Arabic its term for someone who is unidentified or anonymous. The fruit's story is one of a name that stuck while its origin stayed hazy. Because the variety was so little known outside its growing regions, its name carried the sense of something obscure that had yet to be identified by outsiders. Over time the label became the standard English name for this plump, moist, caramel-tasting date, so that a word once meaning "unknown" now marks one of the most recognisable dates on the market.

Synonyms: date, date palm, Medjool date