Date Sweetmeat

This is the most ancient dessert ever prepared in Mesopotamian kitchens. Dates were plentiful and cheap. They were stored in vats in dry places and used year round. In the ancient cuneiform texts dates were referred to as ‘fresh’ or ‘pitted,’ they were crushed and made into jam, but also into ‘daspu’ (date syrup, cf. Arabic dibs), which was quite useful in making desserts. In Sumerian cuneiform tablets, a certain type of pastry called ‘girilam’ was mentioned frequently. It was a prep