Al-Madinah

No date carries the reverence of Madinah's Ajwa — cultivated in the city's upland groves for fourteen centuries and woven into the Prophet's biography. Beside it ripen Safawi, Barni and Rothana in black volcanic soil that gives Madinah dates their deep, distinctive flavour.

Visitors seek out the farms of Quba and Qurban, where sealed boxes of Ajwa are treasured as the holiest of gifts.