Homemade Date Syrup Recipe
Are you trying to decide between all the healthy sweeteners out there? There is too much choice and most of them aren’t as healthy as they claim. They are also usually very expensive. So what’s the alternative? Make your own quick, simple and very healthy date syrup.
Finally, the search is over for the healthiest sweetener
Just add the dates to soak in the water. What could be simpler than that?
I’m always trying to decide whether to use maple syrup, or raw honey. They are both very expensive and I don’t like using them too often as they are both heat treated or processed. Honey raises the blood sugar levels and isn’t suitable for vegans. I do like adding dates to my smoothies but if a recipe calls for a liquid sweetener I become unstuck. Not anymore. This date syrup is a perfect liquid sweetener and unprocessed. It is much cheaper especially if you buy dried dates. It also hardly takes any work to make it. What could be better than that?
This is such a quick simple recipe that I almost didn’t post it, but it’s such a great idea that I think I’m going to end up using it in a lot of my smoothies and recipes in the future so it’s good for it to have it’s own recipe.
I made this date syrup for the first time in my Healthy Cherry and Coconut Hot Fudge Sundae recipe.
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I really prefer using whole fruits such as dates to sweeten my recipes rather than sweetener as it is so much better for you to eat the whole fruit rather than part of it, as it’s fresher and has more nutrients. This date syrup contains the whole date and it’s so easy to make. It is actually a raw food too as fresh dates are usually in an untreated state (still check the ingredients as they sometimes glaze them with other sweeteners).
Date Syrup Health Benefits
Dates give you a very quick source of energy. Within half an hour of eating them, you will feel revived if you are lacking in energy. For that reason they are great just before a workout. Yes they are very high in sugars, but natural fruit sugars that the body actually needs.
Dates are great for constipation and many other health problems.
Dates are a whole fruit which in my opinion makes them far superior to other sweeteners. Have the best of both worlds with this healthy date syrup. You can either eat it straight from the bowl for a quick energy boost or here are some serving suggestions:
- Added to your Green Thickies or other drinks
- Dip apple or melon chunks into it
- Replace jam on crackers, oat cakes or rice cakes
- In baking instead of other syrups
- Added to ice cream
- Replace sugar in tea or coffee
- Added to yoghurt
- Top your oatmeal or porridge with it
- Spread it on some celery with some almond butter
[tweetherder]This date syrup recipe only has 2 ingredients and is the healthiest choice of sweetener by far[/tweetherder]
How to make date syrup
All you do is add some dates, such as mejool dates to about ½ cup of water, cover and put it in the fridge. Leave it at least 24 hours and stir it a few times. The dates dissolve in the water and produce a gorgeous yet very healthy syrup that you can use in all your recipes.
For all date syrup recipes you may need to double the amount of date syrup as this recipe contains half water, half dates. But if you want to buy a date syrup that only contains the dates, nothing else, then you’ll love this Date Syrup you can buy on Amazon.
What is your favourite sweetener? Have you ever tried adding dates to your recipes?
Homemade Raw Vegan Date Syrup Recipe (Date Honey/ Date Nectar)
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Water
- ½ Cup Pitted Dates Any type
Variations
- You can add any of the following ingredients to change the flavour:
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Optional: Soak the dates in:
- Coconut water
- Orange Juice
Instructions
- Pit the dates by making a slit down one side and removing the stone. Add the dates to the water in a bowl. Cover and leave it in the fridge. Leave it at least 24 hours and stir it a few times whenever you remember. The dates dissolve in the water and produce a syrup that can be used to replace any other type of syrup or liquid sweetener.
- If you need this date syrup more quickly, you can always blend it, but you may need to increase the quantity and use a high speed blender.
Notes
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Hi, I’m Katherine. I lost 56 pounds and recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by replacing meals with Green Thickies – my original smoothie concept.
Jenny$1983 says
This is brilliant! I so rarely use sweetener in anything except when I bake, so I do like to have liquid sweeteners about (not agave nectar since I read this: http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2012/02/23/7-foods-you-should-never-ever-eat/), and this is ideal. For porridge and stuff I tend to use liquid stevia, but it doesn’t translate well to baking so I just bought some xylitol for that. I love the idea of date syrup though – and spread over celery with almond butter?! I’m drooling :D Bizarrely I don’t really like celery, but if you put peanut butter and raisins on it I’ll come running, so date syrup and almond butter…?
Thanks Jane, and thank you for making this post to make it easy :)
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thank you. Yes I’m the same, I rarely use sweeteners but do like whole dates as I see them more as a fruit. Yes I’d read stuff about agave too and also stevia. I’ve never actually tried stevia but couldn’t find pure stevia, they always had added stuff in them. I’d like to try growing my own though! I have also tried baking with xylitol and can’t say I really liked it. I think it left a funny coating in my mouth and was quite grainy. It’s hard to find completely healthy sweeteners, but I think date sugar or date syrup would be my choice. I hardly do any baking but love to bake cakes sweetened just with fruit such as oranges and bananas.
Yes I know what you mean about celery. I can take it or leave it. It’s a bit chewy but I do like it in a smoothie. Yes I like dates with almond butter inside too. Yum!
Jenny$1983 says
If you did ever want to try pure stevia, HealthySupplies.co.uk have the SweetLeaf brand, which apparently is the company of the original man who discovered stevia and wanted to offer it to the market. I ordered the NuNaturals Alcohol-Free Liquid Vanilla Stevia Drops from iHerb before I knew about HealthySupplies, but next time (unless my bottle lasts me for the rest of my life, which it seriously might) I’d order SweetLeaf. I did buy some raw powdered green stevia and tried a tiny tiny bit in a single serving strawberry shortcake muffin, but it was … well, gag-worthy is no exaggeration :-(
Funny about the xylitol, although I’ve heard that quality varies hugely between brands; I used about 2 tsp in a single serving protein cake (healthfulpursuit) and I was so impressed at the light sweetness and there was no texture to it or coating.
I also tend to only bake if it’s sweetened with fruit – I hate clicking on a so-called healthy recipe for muffins to discover they have half a cup of granulated sugar in them -.- I bet banana-nut muffins with some of this date syrup would taste amazing 8-)
Jenny$1983 says
Ooh I just remembered I made these: http://www.spoonfulofsugarfree.com/2011/06/24/pecan-sticky-buns/ and they tasted so good! Somebody in the comments suggests a type of date glaze for them which is essentially this nectar of the gods, now I need to try it :)
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thank you, they look amazing. I adore pecans! Thank you for sharing another great blog. I’m going to follow that one too! I bet the date syrup would go really well on there. I’ve been enjoying my date syrup and adding it to salad dressings and my fruit ice cream. I can’t believe I’ve only just discovered it. This website was shared with me after I shared this blog post. You can buy pure date syrup from here (no water added) but I’m not sure if they ship to the UK though: https://www.ilovedatelady.com/ Might be good for anyone reading this from America.
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thanks for that Jenny. I think I had see this brand advertised but the ingredients say sweetener (not stevia) so I wasn’t sure if it was pure stevia or some other mix. So I didn’t like to buy it when I didn’t know exactly what I was eating. That’s interesting that the raw powdered stevia was disgusting. That makes me wonder what they do to the other sweetener to get it to be more palatable. I wonder what it tastes like when you grow it yourself. I’ve heard stevia is much sweeter than sugar, so it would be interesting to try it at some point.
Yes I can’t remember the name of my brand of xylitol. I probably used too much but I couldn’t tell it was there at all when I added a small amount. I’ve probably got too much of a sweet tooth.
I’ll have to try that cake. Her photos are just amazing and I just had her key lime pie smoothie this morning which was absolutely gorgeous.
Yes I know what you mean. I skip straight over recipes that have any sugar or massive amounts of fat too.
pb says
Hi,
Thank you for sharing this info on making date syrup. It is all new to me.
How long does the syrup stay good if kept in fridge or if kept out of fridge (ie kept at room temperature).
What are the signs to look for that it is going bad?
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
I usually keep mine in the fridge for up to a week. I’m not sure how long it would keep out of the fridge as it would depend how hot your house is but I wouldn’t like to think more than 1 day. I’d say mould, tasting or smelling bad or excess liquid on top of it would be signs it had gone bad but I’ve never had that happen as I always eat it before it goes off.
Jo Somebody says
Hello! This sounds like such a good idea, but I was wondering how long does the syrup keep for and where/how should it be stored?
Thanks!
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Hi, It should keep up to a week in the fridge.
Stephanie says
Why do you say that maple syrup isn’t a whole food? We make our own maple syrup, so all it is, is maple sap that has been boiled down, nothing taken out (except water) and nothing added.
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Good point! I meant to say it’s a processed food when you buy it in the shop. I’ve amended this now. That’s great you make your own maple syrup, and that is very healthy!
Louise says
Dates are the highest in potassium so are also a choice to eat if you get leg cramps
Alana says
Is this suppose to be thick? I was thinking it would be more like honey or maple syrup, but it reminds me more of date paste. I was hoping to be able go add it to my coffee, do you think it would be ok?
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
It’s not quite as thick as honey as it’s got water added to it. It’s hard to get that consistency yourself, but if you want some date syrup that is the same consistency of honey with no water added, this is a great one to try: http://amzn.to/19K7ECc
Eric says
How many dates in that 1/2 cup of water? I use smaller, deglet noor dates, not medjool. I can buy them pitted, and organic, at Vitamin Cottage/Natural Grocers.
Editor says
Hi, about half a cup of dates just covered by the water.