California’s Coachella Valley is about to get hot. This week, the highs are predicted to soar well above 100 degrees, where they’ll likely stay throughout the summer. This extraordinarily hot and arid environment might not be great for going out in the daytime, but it is great for dates. The fruit, that is, not the romantic kind.

More than 90 percent of the medjool dates grown in the United States come from somewhere in and around the Coachella Valley. Their sweet, sticky flesh and leathery skin become concentrated in the dry heat. And the locals there love nothing more than to use them in a sweet, cold shake that has become synonymous with the vacation destination Palm Springs.

In Rawaan Alkhatib’s new cookbook Hot Date!, the artist and writer gathers date recipes from around the world. She notes that there is a strong argument to be made that date trees were the first to be cultivated by humans, being first planted possibly seven thousand years ago. The first recipes with dates showed up four thousand years ago. The arid climates where civilization first began were, of course, perfect for growing the fruit. “Nutritionally dense, compact, easy to transport, and easy to preserve, the date is also a holy fruit, a symbol of generosity and abundance,” she writes.

(MORE: A Spring Harvest Salad To Celebrate the Season)

This shake, which she describes as “the quintessential Coachella Valley recipe,” is a deliciously indulgent way to appreciate dates.

She writes, “It’s a true milkshake, not a smoothie: very sweet and decadent, with the dates providing almost more of a texture than a taste—delicious little flecks of skin and fibrous date flesh. Some roadside stands thin out their shakes, and others blend their version so thick you need to use a spoon instead of a mere drinking straw.”

Palm Springs Date Shake

Ingredients

3 Medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped

¼ cup [60 ml] whole milk, as cold as possible

1 cup [235 g] vanilla ice cream

Instructions

In a small bowl, soak the chopped dates in ¼ cup [60 ml] of hot water for about 10 minutes, then chill in the refrigerator until cool.

In a blender, blend the dates, their soaking water, and the milk until smooth and frothy. Add the ice cream and pulse until just blended.

Serve cold.

Excerpted from Hot Date: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, From Party Food to Everyday Feasts by Rawaan Alkhatib, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books.

Weather.com writer Wyatt Williams is exploring the relationship between weather, food, agriculture, and the natural world.

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