Date Syrup

Making it

refrigerated and sealed. A shelf life here is conservative bar practice rather than a food-safety authority's figure, and it assumes the preparation was bottled clean and cold.

Sold as date molasses or silan in Middle Eastern grocers, generally more concentrated than this home-soaked version, with less added water and a thicker pour.

Composition

Derived from the ingredient records. Dates are soaked, blended smooth and strained rather than steeped and discarded like a spice, so unlike the site's other syrups their own sugar and mass carry through into the Form rather than being treated as negligible. Figures are the mass balance of the dates and the soaking water summed over the two lines, with a small allowance for pulp lost to the strainer, rather than a bottle measurement; density and yield are both marked estimated as a result. The density is that of a sugar solution at this strength rather than the whole input mass over the yield, which would count the pulp the strainer keeps. This home-soaked version is noticeably thinner and less sweet than a bought date molasses, which is usually simmered down with little or no added water.