The uses of dates

Food uses: dates can be eaten plain or used for cooking in chopped form for cakes, sweet, pudding, bread, ice cream, cereal, candy. Surplus date is used in jam, jelly, juice, syrup, vinegar and alcohol.

Medicinal Uses: The fruit, because of its tannin content, can be used medically as a detersive and astringent for intestinal diseases. It can be used as infusion, decoction, syrup or paste and is administered as a treatment for sore throat, colds and bronchial catarrh. It is taken to relieve fever, cystisis, gonorrhea, edema and liver and abdominal diseases. It is also said to counteract alcohol intoxication.Global trade in dates

The statistics of Iran date exports, according to customer organization of Iran, are shown below. (values are in millions of dollars)

Note: Statistics are from March of each year.According to FAO statistics (2004) Iran is the number one exporter of iranian dates in recent years and Iranian dates are exported to many countries.
 
This graph, based on FAO 

statistics, shows Iran's 

portion of the global date 

market.