History of Roasted Date Seed

From Desert Heritage to Your Cup — The History of Roasted Date Seeds

  • The date palm is one of the world’s oldest cultivated plants — grown and treasured for over 6,000 years across ancient desert civilisations. We’re honouring that tradition in a modern way with Daisee.”
  • For desert societies, the date palm was considered a “tree of life”. Its fruit offered energy, longevity, and nutrition, while its seeds, trunk, leaves and sap were all used for food, fuel, medicine, building materials, and animal feed, allowing large communities to survive in harsh climates (Al-Karmadi & Okoh, 2024).
  • In modern processing, something valuable has been forgotten. The seed, which makes up 10-15% of the fruit, is often thrown away.
  • But in earlier times, people saw its worth. Records show roasted and ground date seeds being brewed as a hot drink in the 19th century including in Germany where it was consumed during the First World War (Kiesler et al., 2024).
  • Daisee is continuing that story and bringing it to Australia for the first time. By upcycling the seed and roasting it into a rich and aromatic drink, we honour ancient resourcefulness in a modern and sustainable way.

Daisee revives this ancient tradition sustainably — transforming date seeds into a rich, aromatic beverage for modern Australia.

References:

  1. Al-Karmadi, A., & Okoh, A. I. (2024). An Overview of Date (Phoenix dactylifera) Fruits as an Important Global Food Resource. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 13(7), 1024. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13071024
  2. Kiesler, R., Franke, H., & Lachenmeier, D. W. (2024). A Comprehensive Review of the Nutritional Composition and Toxicological Profile of Date Seed Coffee (Phoenix dactylifera). Applied Sciences, 14(6). http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app14062346