Image by JCarrot

Yield: about 1 cup of gooey, fragrant date honey

8 dates – make sure you buy the fat, sticky Medjool dates (Delget won’t work)

Juice of ½ a lemon, remove the seeds

½ cup water

4 pieces crystallized ginger, finely chopped

¼ cup Agave syrup (available at Whole Foods or health food stores)

Remove the pit from the dates and quarter them. Mash the dates with a fork into a paste-like consistency. Add the date mash to a small sauce pan. Add the lemon juice and ¼ cup of water and heat over a low flame, stirring frequently with a whisk or wooden spoon (about 3 minutes). After the water is absorbed, add the remaining water, agave syrup and crystallized ginger. The mash should take on a slightly more liquid quality, like apple butter. Continue stirring, adding small amounts of additional water and Agave syrup as necessary until you reach the taste and consistency you like.

Let cool and serve with slices of Ginger Gold, Honey Crisp apples (or any apple you like).

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