Sesame Date Balls for the Satchel
Date paste perfumed with cinnamon, enriched with crushed nuts, rolled into balls in toasted sesame — a concentrated energy that keeps without spoiling.
Date paste perfumed with cinnamon, enriched with crushed nuts, rolled into balls in toasted sesame — a concentrated energy that keeps without spoiling.
For the long hours up there, on the cliff, drawing plans under a sun that gives no quarter, you need to carry sugar in your pocket. I'd have our dates kneaded into a thick paste, a hint of cinnamon, some crushed nuts, then we'd roll it all in toasted sesame. One of these balls, a sip of warm water from the canteen, and you'd last until the evening shade. The desert, you see, quickly teaches you the art of traveling light and eating dense.
- •Pitted dates — a good bowlful (sweet base)
- •Crushed nuts — a handful (texture)
- •Cinnamon — a pinch (flavor)
- •Sesame seeds — as needed (coating)
Sesame Date Balls for the Satchel
Date paste perfumed with cinnamon, enriched with crushed nuts, rolled into balls in toasted sesame — a concentrated energy that keeps without spoiling.
Why this dish? For long days of surveying on the cliff or rides to distant tombs, we would slip into the satchel dates kneaded and rolled in sesame: concentrated sugar and nomad energy of the desert roads.
For the long hours up there, on the cliff, drawing plans under a sun that gives no quarter, you need to carry sugar in your pocket. I'd have our dates kneaded into a thick paste, a hint of cinnamon, some crushed nuts, then we'd roll it all in toasted sesame. One of these balls, a sip of warm water from the canteen, and you'd last until the evening shade. The desert, you see, quickly teaches you the art of traveling light and eating dense.
Ingredients (period version)
- Pitted dates — a good bowlful (sweet base)
- Crushed nuts — a handful (texture)
- Cinnamon — a pinch (flavor)
- Sesame seeds — as needed (coating)
Ingredients
- Soft pitted dates — 250 g (base)
- Crushed walnuts (or almonds) — 60 g (texture)
- Cinnamon — 1/2 tsp (flavor)
- Toasted sesame seeds — 4 tbsp (coating)
Method
- Mash the dates into a thick paste (using a mortar or food processor).
- Mix in the crushed nuts and cinnamon.
- Shape into small walnut-sized balls.
- Dry-toast the sesame seeds for a few minutes, then roll each ball in them.
- Let firm up; keeps for several days in a box.
How it was made : The date is the king of desert foods: sugar, fiber, and long shelf life. Kneaded into a paste (the famous 'agwa'), it traveled in the satchels of caravanners and fellahs since antiquity. Sesame and cinnamon, long imported via trade routes, enhanced its flavor.
The contemporary twist : Rolled half in golden sesame, half in black sesame, presented as 'energy balls' for the archaeologist hiker.
Herbert Winlock · Charactorium
