DATEible all began while our family was living and working in North Africa. Kevin Klay was placing English teachers in different locations around the country and had a project to run in the south of the country. He decided to take the whole family down.
“We loaded up in our little car and headed down to the desert. It happened to be date harvest season and our lives were suddenly full of dates. We couldn’t drive down the street of the little town without random people flagging us down and handing us fresh dates to eat!”
The hospitality of the people and the natural beauty surrounding them (especially as represented through the date palms) in the oasis left a huge mark on their lives. “We realized that this was an incredible natural resource, and yet the potential was largely untapped—as in most people in the world barely know the fruit. If they do, it’s only as a fresh fruit!”
There are so many challenges that local date growers still face. Unemployment is widespread, and there are few jobs in rural areas other than cultivating dates. Kevin wondered what he could do to help.
“It was at this point when our hearts were most ready to receive the idea of processing date powder.” He said, “It’s made with dryer dates that aren’t used for export and so it taps into what is essentially a new raw material.”
The powder itself is nothing other than ground up dates. It can be used as a sugar substitute at the same time it is considered unprocessed. Because of this, date powder is clean and nutritious. Containing B vitamins, large amounts of potassium, dietary fibers and a low glycemic index, it can function as a healthier sugar substitute in many baked goods.
“The more we worked with the product and realized the potential it had to not only bring blessing to the people in the desert, but also to the whole world, we decided we could no longer keep it to ourselves!”
Our mission, at DATEible, is to bring holistic positive change to our customers, suppliers, and employees as we share sustainable, healthy, and delicious date-based products with the world.