Viral recipes and fibre awareness boost demand for sweet fruit amid shift towards healthier alternatives
Instead of a customary biscuit or a chocolate bar to combat the 4pm slump, people are reaching for a more natural sweet alternative: dates.
The sweet fruit has been thrust into the snacking spotlight by a combination of viral recipes on social media, growing awareness about fibre intake and increasing demand for alternatives to ultra-processed foods.
At Ocado, sales of medjool dates are up 100% year-on-year while searches for date butter and chocolate dates have increased by 458% and 135% respectively.
Nichola Ludlam-Raine, the author of How Not to Eat Ultra-Processed and a spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, said the trend tapped into a growing shift towards “whole food indulgence”. While people still wanted comforting snacks they were seeking versions “perceived as more natural or nutrient dense”. Dates with a caramel-like texture and nutritional benefits such as “fibre, potassium, magnesium and small amounts of antioxidants, which can help support gut health” satisfied those demands, she said.
