The ‘Save the Date’ Initiative Offers Delicious Rare and Unusual Date Varieties While Preserving and Celebrating Agricultural Crop Diversity
Newport Beach, California | January 4, 2024, Rancho Meladuco Date Farm, the award-winning grower and seller of best-quality Coachella Valley California medjool dates, packaged in whimsically illustrated boxes, announces the release of an impact-driven Heirloom Variety Date Box.
Filled with two pounds of assorted date varieties that vary by season and availability, the Heirloom Variety Date Box gives consumers rare access to unusual old and new world varieties such as Tarbazal, Dayri, and brown Barhi – all grown in California and information on which is available here.
As a bonus, consumers who purchase the box from ranchomeladuco.com will also receive a seed planting kit to grow their own date palm tree from seed. As Rancho Meladuco owner Joan Smith notes, “One of the most fascinating things about dates is that the seed that is left after one eats the fruit has the potential to yield an entirely new date variety. This is because date varieties are not replicated by seed but rather from the offshoots of a date palm tree.” While specific climate conditions and pollination are required to grow a date palm that bears fruit, the seed planting kit is meant to be a fun and educational project for both kids and adults to enjoy.
As date farming becomes more commercially oriented, many heirloom types are at risk of disappearing. Older generations of farmers who cultivated heirloom varieties on their ranches are stepping away from the business, increasing the sense of urgency to help save identifiable trees. For her part, Smith is both expanding the number of heirloom varieties grown on her own farm and sourcing both fruit and date palms from small scale growers in her area, including Leja Farms and Anderson Dates. As part of her commitment, she recently acquired over a dozen rare date palm shoots from Arthur Futterman, a Coachella Valley farmer who has cultivated rare and unusual dates for 40 years on his five-acre farm. “Arthur and I met serendipitously and I am thrilled to carry on his important work with heirloom varieties,” Smith says. Her efforts are helping to promote biological diversity and secure long term crop survival. They also bring delight as heirloom varieties offer a host of different flavors to enjoy, and pay homage to the people who have grown and kept them alive.
When she launched her company in 2017, Smith, a former accountant and mother of three, had no prior experience in food, farming or grocery. Rancho Meladuco gained a robust following among food enthusiasts – its whimsically illustrated ribbon-tied boxes became go-to gifts and won shelf space in premium markets like Whole Foods, Erewhon and Williams-Sonoma.
For more information, please visit www.ranchomeladuco.com
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ABOUT RANCHO MELADUCO DATE FARM
Founded by Joan Smith in 2017 and headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, Rancho Meladuco Date Farm is a preeminent seller of premium California-grown dates, sold in whimsically-designed, eco-friendly packaging. On a mission to inspire a national obsession with dates, Rancho Meladuco offers a variety of products, from giftable premium fruit to quality everyday dates sold at more accessible price points. The company sources fruit from its own Coachella Valley date farm and other California date farm partners, and is supporting these date farms with its new Grinders initiative. Creative recipes and more information can be found at www.ranchomeladuco.com
A 2023 sofi™ New Product Award Winner in the Nuts, Seeds, Trail Mix, Dried Fruit Category, Rancho Meladuco has also won the Food Network Magazine Supermarket Award and Walmart Open Call.