Dates

Medjool, Ajwa, Safawi & Zahidi by grade and moisture

Dates are the one line in this family where variety is not a preference but a completely different commercial product, and the separating variable is moisture. Soft dates like Medjool carry roughly 18–24% moisture, eat as a fresh fruit, need chilled or frozen storage and a cold chain, and price at the top of the market. Semi-dry dates like Safawi, Ajwa and Deglet Nour sit around 15–18% and are ambient-stable. Dry dates like Zahidi run 10–14%, keep almost indefinitely at ambient, and price at a fraction of Medjool. CBIL arranges Medjool from Jordan, Palestine, Israel, the UAE and Californian Coachella supply, graded by calibre — Jumbo/Large/Medium/Small by grams per piece — with skin separation, blemish and wrinkle percentage as the grading variables that actually move price; Ajwa and Safawi from the Madinah region of Saudi Arabia, which trade on origin and religious significance as much as physical grade; Zahidi and Sayer from Iraq and Iran; Deglet Nour from Tunisia and Algeria; plus date paste, chopped and diced dates, and pitted formats for industrial use.

The choice is driven by whether the date is a gift, a snack or an ingredient. Medjool Jumbo in a presentation box is a gifting product where every piece is inspected and skin condition is the whole sale — you are buying appearance and the cold chain that preserves it. Ajwa and Safawi serve a distinct Ramadan and religious-gifting market that does not substitute. Zahidi and Deglet Nour are the working dates: date paste and syrup, energy bars, bakery filling, date-based sweeteners, animal feed at the low end. Buying Medjool to grind into a bar is one of the most expensive spec errors in the dry-fruit trade — the paste tastes the same and Zahidi is a fraction of the money. Lots ship against SGS or Intertek certification of moisture, grade and count per kg, sugar, foreign matter, insect damage and infestation, mould, yeast and Salmonella, with fumigation, phytosanitary and Halal documentation where required. Supply is arranged in 5 kg and 10 kg cartons, presentation boxes and 10–15 kg bulk cartons, ambient, chilled or reefer according to variety, container-load, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.