Vol. XL
Medjool dates from the Bard Valley, published each harvest
Since 1987

Amberfrond

Cover story

The Medjool, at its ripest.

Forty acres of date palms between the Colorado River and the dunes. This autumn’s harvest, picked in five passes and packed the morning it ships.

Shop the harvest
Read the issue ↓
  1. 06First light in Block Seven
  2. 12Ramón Arvizu on a life in the palms
  3. 20The buyer’s page
Medjool dates in a white bowl and scattered on a warm sand-coloured table in late light
Jumbo Medjool from Block Seven, picked 24 September.

Contents

This issue follows one harvest from the first green strands in June to the box on your table. Every date in it grew at Bard, on soil the river laid down, and was graded by Inés Arvizu at the sorting table before it was packed.

— Inés Arvizu, editor and grower

Amber clusters of fresh Barhi dates hanging on their strands beneath the fronds

Barhi strands turning amber in August.

  1. 06Photo essayFirst light in Block SevenWalking the oldest rows at five in the morning, before the heat.
  2. 12InterviewA life in the palmsRamón Arvizu on climbing, patience and the year the river flooded.
  3. 16SpreadSix miles west, at duskThe dunes that send the heat a Medjool needs.
  4. 18RecipeCacao-dipped MedjoolFour ingredients, twenty minutes and a pinch of flaked salt.
  5. 20ShoppingThe buyer’s pageFive things to order this autumn, with prices and what is left.
  6. 24ColophonThe harvest letterOne letter a month from the grove, and first call on the Barhi.
Medjool palms in Block Seven with their fruit bunches colouring above the grass
Block Seven, planted 1987. Eighty-four palms, each one climbed nine times a year.

Photo essay · 06

First light in Block Seven

At five in the morning the grove is the coolest place in Imperial County. By eleven, the work stops.

The oldest rows at Amberfrond stand in Block Seven, along the levee road. Ramón planted them from offshoots in the spring of 1987, digging each hole by the light of a truck. Today the trunks are twenty-six feet tall and the crowns meet overhead, so the morning comes in sideways, through the gaps, in long bars of gold.

A Medjool palm is either male or female, and only the females bear. In March we climb each one and dust the opening flowers with pollen from our own males. In May we thin every strand so the dates that remain grow large. By July the bunches hang heavy and are wrapped in paper against birds and rain.

Then we wait. Harvest begins in late September and comes in five passes, because a bunch never ripens all at once. Each date is picked when its skin has loosened and turned the colour of dark honey — not before.

Green Medjool dates at the khalal stage on a yellow strand in June
Fig. 1 June. Khalal: green, hard and bitter.
A heavy bunch of ripening dates hanging from the palm before harvest
Fig. 2 September. Tamar: soft, dark and ready.

07 Amberfrond · The Harvest Issue

Interview · 12

A life in the palms

Ramón Arvizu came to Bard in 1984 with a borrowed truck and eleven offshoots. He talks to his daughter about what the palms have taught him.

Ramón Arvizu in a straw hat at the edge of the grove
Ramón Arvizu at the north windbreak, September 2026.

Inés: You still climb. Why?

Because the palm tells you things at the top that it will not tell you from the ground. You see which strands are crowded, where the birds have been, whether the paper has torn. I have climbed every tree in Block Seven more times than I have driven to Yuma.

What makes a great Medjool?

Water and heat at the right time, and then patience. Most growers pick too early because they are nervous about rain. We leave the fruit until the skin lifts from the flesh. You lose a few. The rest taste like caramel and smoke.

“A date palm gives back exactly what you put into it, but it takes seven years to say so.”

The flood year?

1993. The river came over the levee and stood in the rows for nine days. We thought we had lost everything. The palms did not care. That autumn we had the sweetest crop we have ever picked.

And the next forty?

That is your job now. I will be the one in the hat, telling you that you are picking too early.

Sand dunes under an orange and violet sky at dusk

Spread · 16

Six miles west, at dusk

The Algodones Dunes hold the day’s heat long after sunset, and in September the air over the grove rarely drops below eighty degrees at night. That steady warmth is what turns a hard green date into a soft one. No dune, no Medjool.

Photographed at 6:40 pm, 21 September 2026

Recipe · 18

Cacao-dipped Medjool with flaked salt

Makes
12 dates
Time
20 minutes
Keeps
1 week, chilled

You need

  • 12 Jumbo Medjool, pitted
  • 12 roasted hazelnuts
  • 120 g dark chocolate, 70%
  • A pinch of flaked sea salt
  1. 1Slit each date along one side and press a hazelnut into the hollow where the pit was.
  2. 2Melt the chocolate slowly over barely simmering water, then let it cool for five minutes.
  3. 3Dip each date halfway, lay it on parchment and finish with two or three flakes of salt.
  4. 4Chill for ten minutes. Serve at room temperature, with strong coffee.
Cacao-dipped Medjool dates on a long white plate beside roasted hazelnuts and a pot of melted chocolate

Shopping · 20

The buyer’s page

Five things to order this autumn. Numbers match the pictures; every price includes the box.

  1. 1

    Jumbo Medjool

    1 lb, about 18 dates · In stock

    $19
    Choose a size
  2. 2

    Dusk Assortment

    1.5 lb, four varieties · In stock

    $32
  3. 3

    The Gift Box

    9, 16 or 25 compartments · Built to order

    from $36
    Build yours
  4. 4

    Majlis Serving Set

    Five brass bowls, 1.5 lb dates · 6 left

    $88
  5. 5

    Linen Harvest Plate

    2 lb Jumbo, stoneware plate, linen · In stock

    $58
See all nine on the harvest list
Four Jumbo Medjool dates on white linen
1
Rows of four date varieties laid out from deep red to pale gold
2
Medjool dates stacked on a white gift box lid
3
Brass bowls of assorted dates with small cups of cardamom coffee
4
A plate of Medjool dates on a linen cloth beside a wooden board
5

Colophon · 24

The harvest letter

One letter a month from the grove: what is ripening, what is left, a recipe, and first call on the fresh Barhi strands before they go on the list each August.

Never more than one a month. Unsubscribe from any letter in one click.

Grown at
Amberfrond Date Grove, Levee Road, Bard, California 92222
Edited by
Inés Arvizu
Palms
2,140 Medjool, 160 Barhi, 38 male pollinators
Harvest
Late September to mid November, in five passes
Shipping
Monday to Wednesday, across the United States, from $6