Deglet Noor

Deglet Nour (Arabic: دقلة نور "translucent" or "date of light"); also Deglet Noor is a cultivar of date.

Commonly referred to as the "queen of all dates", the authentic Algerian Deglet Nour has a soft touch, a translucent light color and a soft honey-like taste, characteristics which distinguish it from other dates.

Deglet Nours are popular in Tunisia, Libya, the United States, and Algeria where it is grown in inland oases and is the chief export cultivar. Despite being grown in several Mediterranean countries, the Deglet Nour date originates from Algeria, which is still the world's largest producer of Deglet Nour dates. It is grown predominantly in the Biskra province of Algeria, in the oases of Tolga and M'Chouneche.

Deglet Nour is one of hundreds of cultivars of date palm but is, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the leading date in terms of export value.

Several old books provide evidence that the Deglet Nour date was first grown in Algeria. Among them are Le palmier-dattier by Pierre Munier, L'Algérie: un siècle de colonisation française by Félix Falck, Un voyage au pays des dattes by Jean-Henri Fabre as well as le Bulletin de la Société botanique de France. Munier states that the fruit was introduced at the end of the 13th century and at the beginning of the 14th century in the areas of Biskra and Oued Righ in Algeria before being brought to Tunisia at the end of the 17th century by a grower from Tozeur named Sidi Touati.

The Algerian Ministry of Agriculture has decided to act in order to reserve the Deglet Nour label to Algerian dates.

This cultivar of date is mainly grown in Algeria (Tolga, Oued Righ), in Tunisia (in the areas of Jérid and Nefzaoua) and in the United States (in California, Arizona and Texas) where this cultivar was brought at the beginning of the 20th century.

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