The best dates — and where to find them

If you’re in the mood for dates, your first stop might be a farmers market, where several fresh, in-season date varieties are now available. Food Recipes for dates and how best to cook with them Smooth, sweet shakes, tart lemon bars, crunchy slaw and an aromatic chicken braise — these are just a few of the wonderful recipes utilizing the unique sweetness of dates. At Shield’s Date Garden in Indio, you can tour the gardens to sit in an 1950s-era theater and watch a short documentary titled “The Romance and Sex Life of the Date.” Oasis Date Gardens — a century-plus-old date ranch in Thermal, which received one of the first allotments of Medjool offshoots from Morocco — has a store, a tasting room and a cafe, where a slice of the moist, rich date-and-walnut-laden cake may inspire you to bake with the fruit at home. Where to find dates The Date Shop, 635-2382, ranchomeladuco.com Sam Cobb Farms, 861-1664, samcobbfarms.com Shield’s Date Garden, 347-0996, shieldsdategarden.com Oasis Date Gardens, 398-9354, oasisdate.com Windmill Market, 251-4489