Mazafati dates exporter: information for buyers

Mazafati is the Iranian date most people mean when they ask for a soft date. It is also sold as Kimia. While the fruit is still at the moist stage, before it dries down, it is called Mazafati Rotab, and that is where the longer name Rotab Mazafati Bam comes from. It is grown only in Iran and eaten just about everywhere else.

Mazafati dates are soft, dark, fleshy and juicy. The fruit is medium-sized and roughly round, about 2.5-4.5cm across, and carries a high moisture content of 32-35%. That moisture is the whole point of the variety. It is also why Mazafati is sold and eaten fresh instead of being dried down and handled like a nut.

Iranian Mazafati dates are one of the less common types on the export market, mostly because a wet date is harder to move than a dry one. Nearly all of the crop is produced around the city of Bam.

For an exporter the moisture is the constraint that shapes everything else. A wet date has to stay cold from the packhouse to the buyer’s store, so Mazafati travels in refrigerated containers rather than sitting on an ordinary pallet. Get that part wrong and the fruit arrives fermented, whatever the grade said when it left.

Producing areas

Most Mazafati comes out of the south of Iran, from the town of Bam. Bam has about 28,000 hectares under Mazafati date palms, of which some 5,000 hectares are younger trees, and around 120,000 loads of fruit are harvested there each year. Other parts of Iran with the right conditions for dates are Kahnuj, Jiroft, the Kerman jurisdiction, Iranshahr and Saravan, and Sistan and Baluchestan province grows a large share of the national crop.

Benefits

Mazafati carries vitamin A and B vitamins, phosphorus, iron and potassium, and the natural sugars in it are what make it an energy food.

Mazafati date is also high in fibre, which is why it is eaten by people dealing with constipation and acidity. It is low in fat and free of cholesterol, and the glucose, fructose and sucrose in it are the reason it gets recommended to anyone doing physical work.

Packing and exporting

A Mazafati dates exporter in Iran, or anywhere else handling the variety, lives or dies on the packing. Every packer runs a slightly different system, but the common one is twelve punnets of 600-700g in a master carton weighing 7-8kg.

Fruit is bought straight from the farms and packed from there. Quality and quantity are checked by hand at that point, before the carton is closed, which is the only stage at which a Mazafati dates exporter can honestly tell a customer what is in the box.