When we think about fruit , it ’s very often that our head think a crunchy apple or freshly picked grapes . seldom , if we even ever , think about meaty date fruits grown from an ancient seed .
The story takes place in Israel . But to get to the bloodline of our story , we have to travel back much longer than that … 2,000 years to be exact .
Meet Methuselah , the 10 - foundation tall Judean particular date fruit tree grown from a seed go out back to biblical times . cite after the oldest military personnel mentioned in the bible , Methuselah became the first Judean palm Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to farm in the twenty-first century .
Credit: Sarah Sallon
Methuselah Was Once A Seed From The Kingdom Of Judah
Before the Roman crusaders reached Jerusalem , there was the Kingdom of Judea . This ancient kingdom revered its engagement palm tree as an icon . The image of the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree can even be seen in their coinage .
The ancient day of the month tree was famous for its medicinal property . claim to be good against imprint and as an aphrodisiac , the date fruit was a staple in the period . However , the siege of the Romans around 70 AD cause the day of the month trees to be wipe out of existence .
Flash forward to 2005 and figure Dr. Sarah Sallon and Dr. Elaine Solowey . Dr. Sallon is a British - Israeli film director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center . Inspired by the story of the lotus flower that germinated after 1,000 old age , she decided to make an attempt to revive the iconic Judean palm Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
Credit: Sarah Sallon
The source in question have been excavate from aprevious digat Masada , Israel in the 1960s . They sat in the archives for 40 years before Dr. Sollon decided to pull them out . The germ were already in dissimilar operation of decomposition , but a few were in excellent condition .
Dr. Sollon turn over the ancient seeds to Dr. Elaine Solowey , who is a horticulturalist and the manager of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at a university in Israel .
Dr. Solowey claimed that she did not anticipate the event of the undertaking at first . She tardily introduced moisture to the seeds and six weeks afterwards , one of themsprouted .
Adam Needed An Eve
Methuselah was the first Judean palm tree to germinate from the seeds . However , the plant plow out to be a male . To have the chance of fully reviving the species , the two scientist settle to implant more seeds and get a female plant .
Among the 2nd batch of ancient seeds that were planted grew two female Judean laurel wreath trees named Hannah and Judith . After waiting a few years for the two trees to mature , the scientists at long last administered the pollination of Hannah using Methuselah ’s pollen .
In 2020 , Hannah produced the first Judean date fruits develop after 2,000 twelvemonth of extinction .
Hannah produced 111 particular date yield back in 2020 . In 2021 , she was cross-pollinate again by Methuselah and two of the othermale treesfrom the second batch , namely Adam and Jonah . This time , sheproduced600 more . The fruits are reported to be large and meaty , with a svelte dear flavor .
Israel is famous for their Medjool date . In fact , they are the largest exporter of date fruits in the world . But the particular date fruit they grow are not the original iconic dates that were mentioned by the Psalmists . The dates were from Morrocco .
After Hannah bring forth fruits , the original date yield eaten by the ancient people of Jerusalem was maturate in Israel once again .
Are Seeds Immortal?
Methuselah , Hannah , and Judith ’s source were not the only seeds to sprout after being look at nonextant for a long time . A 32,000 - class - old seedfoundby Russian scientist keep in permafrost was also brought back to lifetime back in 2012 . But unlike Methusela and his siblings , the seeds had to have their plant life tissues extracted and geminated in ampule .
What this says about the life duad of dry seeds is important . Preservation of plant tissue is crucial and suffice it to say that time will not easily get to them as long as the flora ’s genetical information isintact .
Dr. Sallon says that the placement where the Judean appointment seeds were bump also play a full of life use in their preservation . Having been excavated near the Dead Sea , the seeds were protect from harmful cosmic radiationdueto being at the low-pitched point of demesne on Earth .
Methuselah, Hannah, And Judith Continues The Judean Legacy
Credit : Sarah Sallon
accord to an update on the revived species of Judean date trees in August of 2021 , Hannah is still get fruit at the Arava Institute in Israel . On December 2022 , Dr. Elaine Solowey has step down as the director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture where she grew Methuselah .
However , the two scientist have already map out out a programme for the revived trees . Dr. Soloweysaysthat the goal is to create plantation of the Judean date tree until the ancient yield can once again be available to the humanity !
As for Methuselah ? He ’s alive and well in Israel .
