The Date Shop

Retail shop and ranch headquarters for Rancho Meladuco Date Farm located in Newport Beach, California

05/12/2023

We are thrilled to announce that our Organic Grinders have won a Sofi™ New Product Award from the !

I am so proud to receive this award for our beloved Grinders, the imperfect but still delicious and nutritious dates.

This is especially meaningful for our industry because it represents a huge shift from historically focusing solely on the largest and most esthetically perfect dates as the consumer standard to embracing the imperfect and undervalued dates with puffy skin, called “puffies.” The historically lower valuation of the ugly or puffy dates especially hurts farmers who employ the best growing techniques with all the same resources and labor as the “perfect” fruit and thru no fault of their own can find themselves with a portion of their crop having little to no market value for consumer products because of puffy skin. This is a waste of a great crop and hurts the growers: dates are an extremely labor intensive crop being grown in one of the highest wage states. The Grinders help save the dates, save the farmers, and allow our industry to thrive and find a profitable home for all of our dates.

Thank you for recognizing us!

05/06/2022

Tomorrow May 7 is the 148th Kentucky Derby! 🐎 In celebration of the return to pre-Covid race festivities we are sharing our rich and decadent Derby Chocolate Bourbon Ball recipe sweetened entirely with our fudgy sweet dates!

While plenty of date ball recipes abound we find most to be more firm like energy bars. We wanted the texture of chocolate truffles and these hit the finish line! Infused with bourbon, rich and chocolatey, and with a hint of orange zest they are a winning combination.

Even better the basic truffle recipe can be adapted to endless variations such as rolled in chopped almonds as shown here. Swap the bourbon and orange for coffee and lemon zest, rum and coconut, or cinnamon and pecan!

Cheers to the Derby fans and best of luck to the racers.

Recipe & photos by

05/02/2022

Just in time for Mother’s Day, we’re offering a new sweet and delicious bundle of a few of our favorites!

We’ve combined our caramely dates with Cinnamon Snickerdoodle nut butter and a bar of 55% dark chocolate. The dream team trifecta that reminds us of Snickers candy, and a new cult favorite (search to see more great combinations). Mom will approve!

Order soon! Available until our supply of these products runs out!

Link to shop is above in the profile!

04/28/2022

Mother’s Day is May 8th and great food always makes a great gift. Our soft and delicious Medjool dates continue to wow and make a unique and unexpected gift.

We’ve got all the bases covered to make your gift to Mom extra special, from our cute mini bamboo tongs, to our huge assortment of satin ribbon, chocolates and nut butter (nut butter stuffed dates are all the rage, and with good reason, they taste like candy!) and signature date recipe cards. We promise, mom will feel the love.

Order soon to ensure delivery by May 8!

04/26/2022

We’ve had some hot days recently, perfect for enjoying lighter fare! We think you’ll love our latest recipe combining crunchy celery, sweet dates coins, salty Parmesan and toast hazelnuts! A squeeze of lemon and some fresh mint and black pepper brings it all together.

Head to our website for the recipe, and check out our reels for a favorite technique for quick and easy date pitting!

Thanks to for creating this one for us!

04/11/2022

We are fully stocked and shipping our delicious dates for the Holidays! Whether you are celebrating Easter, Passover, or Ramadan we are here to help you mark these holidays with the gift of our sweet and tender dates. We will include all your gift messages, and have ribbons in every spring color. We’ve also added some dark chocolate bars to our pantry of items you can enjoy to build your own bundle of treats.

Sending love and peace to all in your celebrations this month and next. ❤️

03/16/2022

☘️ In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day we are sharing our intensely chocolatey date studded stout cake! We soaked our dates in Guinness beer first before combining them with the chocolate batter. The complex stout enhances the chocolate while the dates lend caramely sweetness and chew. Serve this rich cake with coffee (Irish coffee if you dare!) and a dollop of whip cream.

Grab the recipe in our bio, linked above!

Recipe & photos by

09/04/2021

Figs and Plums and Dates, Oh My!

When we started out in 2017 we attended a lot of neighborhood boutiques offering samples of our delicious dates to new buyers and fans. Many people, previously unfamiliar with dates, would mistake them for figs and prunes. This is understandable when you look at them side by side! We thought we’d revisit this case of mistaken identity and explain the differences.

Prunes are dried plums. High in fiber and potassium, prunes are well known as a natural stool softener.

Dried figs are the dehydrated fruit of the fig tree. Figs are best known as the fruit filling found in the cake-like cookie, Fig Newtons (which I loved as a kid!)

Dates are a dry fruit NOT A DRIED FRUIT, an important distinction. Dates are the fruit of the Date Palm, and naturally dehydrate as the ripen. Like sponges, dates release and absorb moisture naturally in their dry state. Because they are a dry fruit and not a dried fruit they are not treated with preservatives like sulfur. Dates are naturally preserving. Dates are an excellent source of potassium and fiber and also contains magnesium, B-6, iron, selenium and other trace minerals. Dates in their softer taste like caramel or brown sugar. As they dry further these flavors can morph into hints of raisin, molasses and cinnamon.

Now you know!

08/05/2021

Meet the Curiously Crisp Date!

Pre-ordering for Yellow Barhi is open! This short seasoned delicacy is only available for a few weeks in August! Barhi dates are one of just a few varieties that can be eaten and enjoyed when they are still yellow, firm and crunchy (known as the khalal stage). Crunchy like an apple, sweet like raw sugar and mildly tannic, these curiously crisp dates are a special treat and not to be missed! Head over to our website to get yours while they are available! Link in the bio!

05/20/2021

Ready to get rocked? Behold your new favorite dessert: Medjool Date Turtles. We start by smashing our soft caramely dates, then top with whole nuts (we love pecans and cashews here) and a coating of rich chocolate and finished with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Pop these in the fridge or freezer to set and enjoy! These have all the sweetness and flavor of the classic turtle with less refined sugar and all the nutritional benefits of whole dates. These are kid approved and great for summer snacking. You’ll want to use our signature soft Medjool dates for this one.

Checkout our reels for the how to video and click the link in our profile for the recipe!

Thanks to for bringing this to life!

04/26/2021

The countdown to Mother’s Day has begun! We have a limited number of these special bundles available!

We’ve assembled our delicious hand packed dates with 55% dark chocolate, Maple Cinnamon Nutnola butter, a packet of butterfly attracting flower seeds, and a Rancho Meladuco enamel coffee mug! The mug has not been offered for sale before and we have a limited number of these (fewer than 20) and we’re making them available for this special gift bundle!

This is a delicious and unique gift that is sure to please. Link to shop is in our profile! ☝🏻

🎁

03/10/2021

Our Bee-spoke Limited Edition Spring gift wrap is live! We have less than 50 of these! Perfect for Spring celebrations and gifting.

Spring is here in Southern California and we are welcoming the return of flowers, leaves, butterflies, bees and birds in our yards. Our cheery spring gift wrap includes a packet of bee and butterfly seeds - a great way to spread spring cheer to friends and family.

🎁

Address

2700 W. Coast Highway, Ste. 222
Newport Beach, CA
92663

Telephone

+18886352382

Website

https://ranchomeladuco.com/

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