ABSTRACT
Dates are generally consumed as fresh fruits or processed into various products such as paste, syrup, and powder which are used as ingredients in cookies or cakes manufacturing. Knowledge on the physico-chemical, mechanical, structural, textural, and sensory properties is necessary for its processing, storage stability, and consumer acceptability. The rank of the most preferred sensory quality attributes of date at Tamr stage of maturity were as follows: high (color, appearance, sweetness), medium (fruit size, chewiness, solubility, ¨esh thickness), and low (elasticity, mouth feel, and shear force) (Ismail et al., 2001). Considering subjects within the UAE population, it was found that the highest preference variety of dates was Khalas, medium preference was Boumaan, Barhee, and Fard; and low preference variety was Ruzeiz, respectively (Ismail et al. 2001). In this chapter, the sorption characteristics, structural properties related to the state diagram, and instrumental textural characteristics of dates are presented. The basic understanding of the above-mentioned parameters is presented in the following sections for general readers.
