Sukkari vs Safawi: Which Saudi Date Should You Buy?

By Hassen Moumen — Founder & Editor — Sources checked October 2026

Sukkari and Safawi are the two Saudi varieties most likely to end up in the same online basket, and the internet describes them in ways that are half right and half inherited folklore. Sukkari is the soft, honey-sweet date from Al-Qassim. Safawi is the chewy, reddish-brown date from the Medina region. Everything after that — which is “healthier”, which is “less sugary”, which has “more fiber” — is where the shop copy tends to drift away from the actual measurements.

This comparison uses one study that measured both varieties with the same methods on the same day, so the numbers are directly comparable, plus separate work on each variety where it adds something the paired study cannot. Where we could not verify a claim that circulates widely, we say so instead of repeating it.

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The short version

• Choose Sukkari if you want a soft, honey-caramel date to eat straight, stuff, or blend into paste. It is the more forgiving snack and the more familiar sweetness.
• Choose Safawi if you want a chewier date with darker raisin and molasses notes, and one that holds its shape in baking or on a cheese board.
• Do not choose either for fiber. In the paired study Sukkari measured higher in total dietary fiber than Safawi, which is the opposite of what most descriptions claim.
• Do not choose Safawi as a “low-sugar” date. It measured the highest total sugars of the five Saudi varieties tested. It tastes darker, not lighter, in sugar terms.

Two different fruits, not two grades of one fruit

Sukkari’s Arabic name translates to “the sweet one”, and a 2025 review of the Sukkari literature places its main growing area in Al-Qassim, in central Saudi Arabia. The dried fruit runs golden-yellow to dark golden-brown with a thin, glossy skin and soft, creamy flesh. It is usually sold at the tamer stage, when moisture has dropped enough to ship, though fresh rutab appears locally in season.

Safawi belongs to the group of cultivars grown around Al-Madinah. A 2022 morphological study of those palms measured the fruit at 4.05 ± 0.26 cm long and 2.07 ± 0.29 cm wide: oblong, with a shallowly cordate tip, an obtuse base and a rugose (wrinkled) surface. The dry fruit was reddish brown and the fresh fruit red — not black, as the “black date” label on some listings suggests. The seed is brown, ovoid and smooth.

Measured composition, side by side

The 2024 study that paired them reported the following values per 100 g dry weight. The variety listed as “Sukari” in the paper is the same Saudi variety sold elsewhere as Sukkari or Sukkary; the transliteration varies between papers.

Measure (per 100 g dry weight)	Sukkari	Safawi
Moisture	14.3 g	12.7 g
Protein	3.12 g	2.83 g
Lipid	0.142 g	0.047 g
Glucose	24.9 g	41.0 g
Fructose	20.7 g	36.6 g
Sucrose	28.0 g	not detected
Total sugars	73.6 g	77.7 g
Total dietary fiber	8.92 g	6.61 g
Total phenolics (mg GAE)	38.3	55.1
Total flavonoids (mg CE)	18.2	28.5

One caveat before anyone builds a diet on this table: these are single samples from one study, on a dry-weight basis. Fresh rutab contains much more water than the semi-dry fruit in an imported box, so a per-100-gram comparison of what you actually eat will look different. The direction of the differences is more useful than the precise digits.

The sugar profile is the real dividing line

Look at the sucrose row. Sukkari carried 28.0 g of sucrose per 100 g dry weight; Safawi’s sucrose was not detectable, and its sugars were almost entirely glucose (41.0 g) and fructose (36.6 g). That is a genuine compositional difference between the two fruits, and it is the most interesting number in the table.

It is not, however, a licence to explain flavour with a single sugar. Perceived sweetness depends on the sugar mix, the acid and phenolic content, the aroma compounds and the texture that delivers them. What the table does support is a simpler statement: Sukkari and Safawi are built differently, so the fact that they taste like different fruits is not marketing.

Total sugars ran the opposite way to the marketing, too. Safawi measured 77.7 g per 100 g dry weight — the highest of the five varieties in the study — against 73.6 g for Sukkari. If a shop describes Safawi as the low-sugar option, that description is not supported by the measurement.

The fiber claim, corrected

Search for Safawi and you will find it called “fiber-rich” and “higher in fiber than soft varieties”. The paired study found the reverse. Safawi’s total dietary fiber was 6.61 g per 100 g dry weight, the lowest of the five varieties measured, while Sukkari’s was 8.92 g, the highest. Ajwa sat at 8.26 g and Sagai at 8.85 g. The insoluble fraction dominated in both cases, which is normal for dates.

Both fruits are still sources of fiber in ordinary amounts. Neither is a fiber supplement, and neither is a reason to ignore the sugar column. The point is narrower: the specific comparison that gets repeated online is backwards, and a page that keeps repeating it is not doing the reader any favours.

Phenolics: Safawi’s genuine advantage

Safawi is the darker fruit, and on phenolic content it does lead. The paired study measured 55.1 mg GAE per 100 g dry weight for Safawi against 38.3 for Sukkari, with flavonoids at 28.5 against 18.2 mg catechin equivalents. A separate extract-based study put Safawi at 101.66 mg GAE per gram of extract against 39.01 for Sukkari, and found the strongest DPPH radical scavenging of the three varieties it tested.

Those are in-vitro measurements of extracts, and the units differ between the two studies, so do not stack them into a ranking. They are a reason dark date varieties attract research interest in functional-food contexts. They are not evidence that eating Safawi treats or prevents any condition, and no date is a substitute for a varied diet.

Glycemic index: one number, limited scope

One frequently cited analysis reported a glycemic index of 43.4 for Sukkari, which falls in the low band (under 55). We did not find an equivalent measured GI for Safawi in the sources we checked, so we are not going to invent one. The same Sukkari review notes that GI is generally lower at the tamer stage than at the khalal stage, while glycemic load peaks at the rutab stage — ripeness moves the number more than the variety name does.

If you manage blood sugar, the practical takeaway is portion size and ripeness, not a variety ranking. This is general information, not medical advice.

Buying each one

Sukkari. Expect golden-yellow to dark golden-brown fruit with a thin, glossy skin. Fresh rutab should be uniform in colour with no dark water spots and no fermented smell; refrigerate it and eat it within days. Semi-dry boxes are the common import and keep for months sealed in a cool pantry. A dry white coating is crystallized sugar, not mold — mold is fuzzy and smells off.

Safawi. Expect reddish-brown to dark brown fruit, glossy and evenly wrinkled, chewy but not rock-hard. Dull, dusty fruit is old fruit; rock-hard fruit has dried out and will need a brief soak. The aroma should read of molasses rather than fermentation.

For both, the buying discipline is the same: read the origin and net weight, ignore adjectives like “premium” and “black”, and compare price per ounce rather than pack price. A 2 lb box at a higher ticket can be the cheaper fruit.

Using them in the kitchen

Sukkari is the snacking and paste date. Its soft flesh disappears into smoothies and date paste, stuffs neatly with a nut or soft cheese, and brings honeyed sweetness to a pre-workout snack. It is a poor choice for anything that needs the fruit to stay in visible pieces, because it collapses.

Safawi is the baking and board date. Its semi-dry structure holds shape in bars and breads, and the darker notes work against salty cheese and nuts. It also makes a better-looking contrast on a tray: reddish-brown Safawi next to golden Sukkari shows the range of the family in two bites.

What we could not verify

Several claims about these varieties are repeated so often that they read as facts. We checked the primary sources we cite below and did not find support for the following, so this guide does not repeat them: a fixed harvest month for either variety; a claim that Safawi tolerates saline soil better than other dates; the synonym “Kalmi” for Safawi; any specific price or value ranking between the two; and a measured glycemic index for Safawi. If better sources appear, the page can change — until then, the honest answer is that these are unverified.

The verdict

Buy Sukkari for softness and honeyed sweetness, and buy Safawi for chew and darker flavour. If your reason for choosing one over the other is fiber, the measurement favours Sukkari; if it is phenolic content, it favours Safawi; if it is sugar, they are close enough that portion size matters more than the label. Neither is a health food in the way the adjectives suggest, and both are excellent fruit when the box is fresh.

Related pages

• Sukkari dates — full variety profile
• Safawi dates — full variety profile
• Sukkari flavor wheel and Safawi flavor wheel
• Ajwa dates — the other dark Medina date
• Best dates for baking
• All date varieties, compared

Sources

• Jaouhari Y. et al., Valorization of Date Fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) as a Potential Functional Food and Ingredient: Characterization of Fiber, Oligosaccharides, and Antioxidant Polyphenols. Molecules, 2024: PMC11477978
• Ali RFM, El-Anany AM., From traditional fruit to modern functional food: chemical constituents, bioactive compounds, and therapeutic applications of Sukkari date palm: a review. Frontiers in Nutrition, 2025: PMC12497636
• Alaida MF, Aldhebiani AY., Comparative study of the morphological characteristics of Phoenix dactylifera L. cultivars in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, Saudi Arabia. BMC Plant Biology, 2022: PMC9511727
• Zihad SMNK et al., Antioxidant properties and phenolic profiling by UPLC of date varieties including Safawi and Sukkari. PMC7820033
• FAO, Date Palm Cultivation. https://www.fao.org/4/y4360e/y4360e00.htm