1. The date palm is widely growing in the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf and North Africa area. It has played an important role in the daily life of the people of this region for the last 7000 years. Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran are the top three largest date products producer countries in the world.
2. There are three stages during the date growing, Khalal, Rutab and Tamr stage. Khalal stage dates are immature with hard texture, yellow or red or pink color, The TSS(Total Soluble Solids) is 30-45 Brix; Rutab stage dates soften at the tip of the fruit, The TSS is about 55-60 Brix; Tamr stage dates are fully ripened with TSS of 60–84 °Brix and edible. Usually the tamr stage dates are used to proceed all kinds of date products.
3. The date length range is between1.8-6cm, the average date weight is 7-10g, the date pits are 10–20% of the total fruit weight. It contains moisture ranged from 10 to 22%. Date fruits (Tamr) are also rich in all kinds of the nutrients: total sugars 62 to 75%, protein 2.2 to 2.7%, fiber 5 to 8%, fat 0.4 to 0.7%, minerals (1.3%), vitamins, ash 3.5 to 4.2%, total acidity 0.06 to 0.20%, ascorbic acid 30.0 to 50.0 mg %.
4. The fresh dates can be proceed into the date syrup (concentrated clear date juice), date juice, date spread(concentrated turbid date juice), date paste, date liquid sugar, vacuum fresh dates, date powder and date wine or date vinegar. The date syrup is the most common product, In food technology, date syrup as the main and general by-product of date is used for foodstuffs such as jams, marmalades, concentrated beverages, chocolates, ice cream, confectioneries, honey, etc.
5. Date processing machine mainly includes date pitting machine, date washing machine, date grading and sorting machine, date blanching machine, date juice extraction machine, date juice enzyme treatment, date juice filtration system, date juice concentrated machine, date syrup filling machine, CIP cleaning system and RO water treatment system.
6. The date processing line is flexible, The production line can be configurated freely according to end product production and package.
7. The capacity of the date processing line is from 500kg per hour to 10000kg per hour, and the end products can be filled into bottles, vacuum pouches, metal cans, barrels etc,.
8. Date syrup products are different from other juice products, because of high sugar content(70%), so the end products no need for pasteurization or sterilization, so that the flavor, aroma and nutrient can be kept maximumly.
9. The most popular date juice extraction method is hot water extraction, pectinase/cellulase enzymes extraction and ultrasonic waves extraction.

Date syrup(Concentrated date juice): 70-75 Brix. PH value range 4.2-6, the date syrup does not contain any non-soluble materials, and the date juice after filtration and concentration process, the date syrup will be obtained. The date syrup is thinner than the date paste and is more concentrated in sugar. It does not contain the pulp of the dates. The date syrup can be filled into bottles, barrels.

Date Juice: The TSS is 18.5 Brix, the juice is leaching or extracted with hot water to obtain the date juice. The end products can be filled into bottles or cans as beverages.

Date Paste/puree: Fresh dates after pitting, washing, sorting, blanching, pulping, then we will get the date paste/puree, then the date paste will go through the homogenizer to get the emulsified paste. The TSS of date puree is about 35 Brix. It can be used for making drinkable date juice, smoothies. The date puree can be filled into pouches or bags.

Fresh Dry Date Vacuum Package: Fresh dates through fumigation, washing, sorting, sterilization, drying, packing by vacuuming.

Fresh dates are pitted by date pitting machine, then depitted dates washing is done by air bubble washing machines with water sprays to remove dust or other foreign materials using clean water. After washing, the dates are transferred to belt sorting conveyor to sort out the inferior, damaged products. The next step is lifting the high-quality dates to the steam blancher to soft the tissue and inactivate the enzymes of the dates. Then there are two process flow for date syrup and date paste:

–If you produce date juice and syrup, then the blanched dates will be sent to the leaching/extraction tank to extract the date juice, then the date juice will go through enzymatic hydrolysis, plate and frame filtration, ultrafiltration process to remove soluble solids to obtain clear date juice, after that, the clear date juice will be concentrated by falling film evaporator to obtain the date syrup.

–If you produce date paste, the blanched dates will be crushed and pulped by the fruit pulping machine, then the date paste will be refined by scrape refiner to remove the big particles in the paste, after that the date paste will be homogenized, degassed and vacuum filled into cans or bottles.

The date pitting machine is designed especially for removing date core automatically, it is suitable for fresh dates and dry dates core removal, and pitting rate is 99%, and the capacity of this machine is 100-200kg per hour. The whole machine is made of SUS304 material, The needle of the pitting machine is made of stainless steel, which is durable and will not pollute the pulp of the date during the pitting process.

Fresh pitted dates are passed through air bubble washing machine with water showering nozzles to remove the dust and foreigner matters, then the date will be elevated to belt sorting conveyor to sort out moth fruit and damaged fruits manually.

The screw steam blanching machine is used for inactivated the enzymes and kill the part of bacteria in dates. The best Blanching temperature is 70-80℃and best blanching time is 7-15 minutes. Under this pasteurization temperature and time, the nutrition and aroma of the date palm are retained to the utmost extent, and the date is softened for the subsequent juice extraction.

The double stage date paste pulping machine is made of SUS304 material, the main function of the date pulping machine is to crush fresh dates into date paste, remove date peels and separate the date tissue from the peel. The sieve in the pulping machine is adjustable and replaceable to produce different fineness of the date paste.

The date juice extracting process is the core processing in the date juice and syrup processing line, it mainly includes two steps: hot water extraction and adding enzyme preparation for enzymolysis. The date juice yield rate is 55%-60% with these two methods applied.

Hot water extraction: This process is carried out in the SUS304 extraction tank, the date pulp and 70℃ hot water ratio are 1:3 in the extraction tank, the PH is adjusted to 6.0 ± 0.2, then start the stir to blending for 2 hours. After heating the slurry was filtered through a vibrate screen filter to remove large impurities and insoluble matters.

Enzymatic hydrolysis: Pectinase and cellulose enzyme preparations were added at the rate of 1 % for each on a date pulp weight basis in the enzymatic hydrolysis tank. The mixture of date pulp, water and enzyme preparations are mixed carefully and incubated at 50± 2°C for 2 hours with a continuous blending.

The date juice extraction system results in a main product (date juice) and a by-product (presscake). Crude juice contains soluble and insoluble solids as well as foreign matter.

Several technologies have been employed for clarification of date juice, such as juice pretreatment by boiling, precipitating or hydrolyzing colloids by enzyme, removing insoluble foreign matters by means of filtration or centrifugation, decolorization using activated carbon or ion exchange, removing the minerals using chemicals or ion exchange, and removing high molecular weight compounds by foaming. The mature technology is that the date juice is first filtered through a plate and frame filter, and then use the ultrafiltration system to filter it twice, so that we get a clarified date palm juice.

After refining and filtration, date juice with soluble solid content of 18–25% will be obtained, which needs to be concentrated. The most common soluble solid content of date syrup is 75%. The falling film evaporator is applied to concentrate the date juice into date syrup.

The date syrup after concentration then cooled down to 30℃, and filled into the 220L bag in drum or a small bag in box, bottles or metal cans. As the syrup does not pasteurize, to extend the shelf life, the vacuum filling machine is suggested.

For the date juice, it needs to be pasteurized before filling, then the date juice can be filled into consumable containers like bottles.