One Date, Three Names — Epoche A1
Today at the date market in Buraydah I understood something: a date is not one thing. It is three. The same fruit has three names. Yellow and hard, it is khalal — it breaks like an apple. Half-soft and wet, it is rutab . Dark and dried, it is tamr — the date that sits in a box all year. The seller let me taste all three. Same tree, three tastes, three prices. Rutab cannot wait: after two or three days it is too soft, so people buy it on the day they eat it. Tamr waits for months. For my grandfather they are all one word: sweet.