Rawaan Alkhatib spotlights the humble date in her book HOT DATE!: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, From Party Food to Everyday Feasts. In the cookbook, she shares recipes ranging from ancient Babylon to today, such as the Palm Springs date shake. The Coachella Valley recipe she writes about is "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."