When I was born, my mother gave my father three choices for my name. Sharon, Yael and Tamar. I was always grateful that he didn’t choose Yael because in Australia and America, Yael is often pronounced Yale. But I always wondered why he didn’t name me after his favorite thing in the whole world — tamar, date in Hebrew.
From my earliest childhood memories, my father always snacked on dates. He stuffed them with almonds or walnuts or he would drizzle dates with tahini poured straight from the jar. He enjoyed stuffing dates and a slice of hard yellow cheese into his pita. He even loved to add pitted dates into his omelets! Don’t get me started about his love for Silan, the date syrup that Iraqi Jews also call ha’lek.
Later in his life, my father enjoyed making date “treats.” He would add dried coconut to mashed dates, form the mixture into a date shape, roll each one in coconut and garnish with a roasted almond. Other times, he would smear peanut butter into the open pitted date. He would lovingly serve these creations to his grandchildren and other visitors.
When I was seven years old, my parents, my brother Rafi and I returned to Israel for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. It was a long trip, marred by the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war. One of my fondest memories was his happiness with the clusters of fresh dates in the stalls of the Shuk Ha’Carmel in Tel Aviv.
I remember his excitement when he brought home flat cardboard boxes filled with juicy, fresh dark Medjool dates, exported from Israel to Australia.
Over the years, whenever we returned to Israel, we would always go to the Dead Sea. He would always marvel at the fertile date groves of the Arava desert.
When I owned a clothing store on the Third Street Promenade, he made good friends with the date farmer from the Coachella Valley. He especially loved buying the barhi dates that reminded him of his childhood in Baghdad.
My father’s father was a successful food and grain wholesaler, so my father grew up knowing and loving dates. Iraq is home to 627 unique date species, and for millennia, dates were an essential part of the diet. Nowadays, Iraqi farmers cultivate over 50 different kind of dates for commercial agricultural production.
Ironically, while my beloved father’s passion for dates seemed to be a throwback to his Babylonian roots, dates are trending right now. Many Americans have traded in their ultra-processed snacks for fiber-rich, nutrient dense whole foods. Dates are a perfect way to add natural caramelized sweetness to desserts. TikTok and Instagram have popularized treats like “date bark,” peanut butter-stuffed dates, and chocolate-dipped date Twix.
Rachel and I love making healthy desserts that incorporate dates. This peanut butter and chocolate date bark is something my father would have loved.
My father’s Hebrew birthday was Yom Kippur. So this year in tribute to my dad, dessert before the Yom Kippur fast will be a slice of honey cake and a bite of this delicious date bark treat.
P.S. Now I know why my father didn’t name me Tamar. My granddaughter (his first great-grandchild) is named Noa Tamar in his honor. And my brother Rafi’s granddaughter is named Tamar Hannah.
—Sharon
Peanut Butter Date Bark
1 dozen pitted Medjool Dates
Organic peanut butter
10 oz semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp avocado oil
Maldon sea salt, to sprinkle
Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Slit each date and open out. Lay the dates flat on the baking tray to create an even layer of dates in a rectangular shape.
Spoon a generous amount of organic peanut butter on top of the dates, covering them completely.
Melt the chocolate with the avocado oil. Pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter, then sprinkle with sea salt.
Place the bark in the refrigerator or freezer, until chocolate has hardened.
Cut into small chunks and serve cold.
Store in in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. Their cooking and storytelling project has grown into a devoted following on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food. sephardicspicegirls.com/full-recipe.
