(Jewish Group) 'Mad' Israeli quest to revive ancient dates bears fruit

When Sarah Sallon first thought of cultivating 2,000-year-old date palm seeds from a Roman-era fortress towering above the Dead Sea, she received a less than encouraging response.

"The botanical archaeologists said 'you're completely mad. It will never work'," the 72-year-old British-Israeli expert on natural medicine told AFP.

But Sallon's bet that the Dead Sea's unique, bone-dry environment could enable the seeds from the Masada fortress to flourish has been proven right.

With lots of patience and care, she and project partner Elaine Solowey managed to grow date palms from seeds dating back to the Kingdom of Judah which emerged in the 11th century BC.

The kingdom was "renowned for the quality and quantity of its dates", praised at the time for their "large size, sweet taste... and medicinal properties," the two wrote in an article for Science magazine.

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