Ask an exporter how they sort dry fruit and you won't hear "health benefits" first. You'll hear moisture, colour, size. Those three checks decide the grade, and the grade decides the price.
Moisture is the first check
Too wet and the fruit ferments in the bag before it reaches a customer. Too dry and it turns hard, loses the chew that makes a date worth eating. Zahedi dates sit on the drier end on purpose, that's what lets them travel and sit in a warehouse without spoiling. Softer types, Mabroom or Medjool, need closer temperature control from the start.
Colour tells you the harvest stage
A Zahedi date goes from yellow to a light golden-brown as it ripens on the palm. Pick it too early and the colour is uneven, patchy yellow against brown, a sign the batch was rushed. Raisins work the same way: darker usually means longer time on the vine, not a different variety.
Size and how it's graded
Suppliers grade by size because a uniform box sells faster than a mixed one, buyers assume mixed sizes mean mixed quality even when they don't. Jumbo, large, medium, small, the exact labels vary by exporter, but the logic is the same: separate by size, price by size.
What this means if you're buying
Check the bag for consistent colour and size before anything else. If the package has ventilation holes, that's deliberate, it stops the fruit sweating and sticking. No holes and the bag feels damp, poke a few yourself or move the fruit to an open container. Dried fruit that's genuinely well-graded keeps for months in a sealed bag in the freezer; anything that clumps or smells off before then was probably packed too wet to begin with.
See our current stock on the home page, or get in touch via contact us for bulk orders.