In the Shadow of Khalas
If Khalas is the king of Al-Ahsa, Shishi is its heir: an old cultivar grown in the eastern and northern villages of the oasis, picked weeks before Khalas to fill the early-season gap. Hofuf's Souq Al-Qaisariya has known it for generations.
Taste & Character
The fruit is golden shading to brown, with juicy soft flesh at rutab and a rounded, honeyed sweetness; as tamr it firms up slightly under a thin skin. It is enjoyed as rutab with coffee and used in Al-Ahsa's traditional sweets.
The Season
Among the earliest of Al-Ahsa's cultivars: rutab around 25–30 June and tamr between mid and late August. This earliness makes it the star of the oasis's early rutab festivals.
Khalas Dates
Barhi Dates
Ruzeiz Dates
