Khajoor for Winter and Shaadi Season: Varieties and Prices

Khajoor is the one dry fruit every Pakistani household buys in winter, whether or not they buy anything else. It opens the fast in Ramadan, sweetens the winter table, goes into panjiri and barfi — and in November it does a second job: it is the gift. A box of good dates is still the most respectable thing to carry into a wedding house, and it keeps longer than a sweet box.

The confusion is real. The shelf holds eight varieties, prices run from Rs 400 to Rs 1,300 for the same 250g weight, and the names tell a new buyer nothing. This guide is the varieties-and-use piece: which khajoor is which, which to eat daily, which to gift, what chhuhara is for, and what everything costs at the shop today. It is not a rate page — the daily mandi rates belong to the price pages that track them. The prices here are the shop's own shelf prices.

For the full comparison of the three most-asked-about varieties — Ajwa, Mabroom and Aseel, taste against taste — our earlier khajoor comparison guide already does that job in detail, including nutrition and advice for people watching sugar. This article does not repeat it; it answers the winter question — what to buy now, for the house and for the wedding.

The Varieties, One by One

The shelf divides into two families: the premium Saudi and Jordanian varieties, sold by the 250g pack at four figures, and the everyday Iranian and Pakistani varieties at a third of the price. The nutrition is close across all of them — natural sugars, fibre and potassium in every variety. What you pay for, going up the list, is softness, size, origin and ceremony — not a different food.

Ajwa — 250g Rs 1,100. The Madina date — soft, dark, medium-sized — and the first name in gifting, for weddings, Umrah return gifts, and elders. The 500g pack is Rs 2,200 and the kilo Rs 3,800; there is a second listing at Rs 1,200 for 250g, but the Rs 1,100 pack is the one to buy. Ajwa is soft enough to eat without chewing hard, which is why older guests like it.

Medjool — 250g Rs 1,300. The "king of dates" from Jordan — the largest on the shelf, very soft, very sweet, almost caramel. The most expensive single variety here, and the one to buy when you want one date to impress: a Medjool beside tea needs no introduction. The kilo is Rs 5,000. A gift date and a guest date, not a daily date.

Mabroom — 250g Rs 1,150. The long, slender Saudi date, less sweet than Ajwa, firmer to chew, with a toffee-like depth. The connoisseur's date: daily eaters tend to prefer it to Ajwa, because it is less cloying and keeps its shape in the hand. The kilo is Rs 4,500, with a Grade A listing at Rs 1,200 for 250g. For a shaadi gift box, Mabroom is the equal of Ajwa and often the better choice — long, dark, uniform.

Sukkari — 250g Rs 900. The "sugar date" — soft, golden, meltingly sweet, the date that tastes most like a sweet and least like a fruit. The one children reach for first. The kilo is Rs 3,500. Softer than Mabroom and sweeter than Ajwa, it crumbles easily, so handle it gently and keep it cool.

Kalmi (Safawi) — 250g Rs 1,000. The dark, firm Saudi date, the least sweet of the premium set, with a deep, almost chocolate note. For people who find the others too sweet: it eats more like a dried fruit and less like a sweet, a date with tea rather than a date instead of a sweet. The kilo is Rs 4,000.

Irani Mazafati — 250g Rs 400. The everyday date, and the best value on the shelf by a distance. Soft, juicy, dark, sweet — the date that goes into the kitchen, into panjiri, into barfi, into children's hands after school. The 500g pack is Rs 800, the kilo Rs 1,600, and there is a 500g gift box at Rs 600. A third of Ajwa's price, the same nutrition, soft enough for everyone in the house.

Zahidi — 1kg Rs 600. The dry date, sold by the kilo, not the 250g pack. Zahidi is firm, golden, less sweet, and the cheapest date per kilo in the shop — the one for cooking, for stuffing, for the big family jar. There is a second listing at Rs 700 a kilo. It is the date to buy when you need quantity: for a large family, for a wedding's worth of sweet-making, for the kitchen rather than the table.

Aseel — out of stock. Pakistan's own date, the cheapest of all, listed at Rs 200 for 250g — and currently out of stock on the Shopify shop, all packs, verified today. Aseel is the daily date of Sindh, soft and sweet and honest, and the one I would recommend first for daily eating if it were on the shelf. Until it returns, Mazafati is the substitute at twice the price. Check back: when Aseel returns, the daily-eating recommendation changes back to it.

Iraqi Basra — not sold here. There is no Basra listing on the Shopify shop at all. It is sold on the shop's other website, but not here, so it does not appear in the table below. If you see Basra quoted elsewhere, remember the Lahore official list puts Iraqi dates at Rs 325–340 a kilo — a mandi price, not a shop price, and quoted here only as context.

Which Khajoor for What: Daily Eating vs Gifting

The rule is simple and it saves money: eat the cheap one daily, gift the dear one once. A household eating Mazafati daily at Rs 400 for 250g spends a fraction of one eating Ajwa at Rs 1,100 — and gets the same fibre, potassium and energy. The premium varieties earn their price at the moment of giving: a box of Ajwa says something a bag of Mazafati does not, and in shaadi season, what a gift says is half its value.

For daily eating, buy Mazafati (Rs 400) or Zahidi (Rs 600 a kilo) and keep two or three dates by your tea — about 130–200 calories, a sensible winter snack. Their sugar is natural, but it is still sugar: a handful is a snack, a packet is a meal.

For gifting, buy Ajwa or Mabroom — and buy the box, not the loose pack. A loose pack in a paper bag is a purchase; a wooden box is a gift. The shop's gift boxes are priced below, and they are the reason this article exists in November: shaadi season is when the boxes move, and they are in stock now.

For the kitchen — panjiri, barfi, stuffing, cooking — buy Mazafati or Zahidi. Premium dates in cooking are a waste of money: their softness and ceremony disappear into the dish, and Mazafati binds and sweetens just as well. Our barfi recipe and panjiri cost guide price the same choice.

Chhuhara: The Wedding Date

Chhuhara — dried dates, sold here as chuara — is the variety the shaadi season actually runs on, and it is the cheapest date in the shop: 250g at Rs 330, 500g at Rs 650, 1kg at Rs 1,300, in stock. It is not a soft date. It is a dried, firm, golden date, chewy and less sweet than the fresh varieties, and it is the date of the old customs: it goes into the wedding's dry-fruit trays, into the bride's trousseau boxes, into the winter's milk and porridge, and into the hands of guests as a blessing as much as a food.

In a shaadi house, the soft premium dates are eaten the same day; the chhuhara is the one that stays on the tray for the whole week, travels in the luggage, and gets packed into gift parcels for relatives. It keeps longer, travels better, and costs a third of Ajwa. Buy a kilo for the wedding, keep 250g for the house.

In the kitchen, soak chhuhara overnight and it softens into something close to a fresh date — good in milk, in porridge, in the winter's sweet dishes. Unsoaked, it is a chewing date, and children love it precisely because it lasts. It is also the date to buy if you are watching sugar: less sweet than Mazafati or Sukkari, and its firmness slows you down.

Shaadi Gift Boxes: What They Cost

The boxes are where the shaadi budget goes, and they are all in stock today:

The 6-partition box at Rs 4,300 is the cleverest buy here: six varieties in one box, so the receiver tastes them all without you choosing. The Ajwa and Mabroom wooden boxes are the formal gifts — heavier, more expensive, unmistakably a wedding present. The 7-portion Saudi box at Rs 10,400 is the grand gesture; the wooden 7-portion at Rs 5,200 does the same job for half the price.

The 500g and 250g Ajwa boxes are currently out of stock, so for a small Ajwa gift, buy the 250g loose pack at Rs 1,100 and a box of your own, or step up to the 1kg wooden box. Shaadi season does not wait, and the 1kg box is the better gift anyway.

The Full Price List at Today's Prices

Every price below is the shop's own live price on 8 November 2026, for the 250g pack unless stated otherwise:

For context only — not shop prices — the Lahore official rate list of 3 November puts Irani dates at Rs 415–435 a kilo, Iraqi at Rs 325–340, and Aseel at Rs 295–310. Those are mandi rates for the everyday varieties, and they are the reason the shop's Mazafati at Rs 1,600 a kilo looks dear beside them: the mandi price is the wholesale price of loose dates, and the shop price carries packing, grading, storage and delivery. The premium varieties — Ajwa, Medjool, Mabroom — are sold separately from that list entirely, at shop prices, because they are imported, graded and boxed. Compare like with like: mandi loose against mandi loose, shop packed against shop packed.

How to Store Khajoor Through Winter

Soft dates keep best in an airtight box in a cool, dark cupboard, and last two to three months like that. In a warm kitchen they soften and can ferment; in the fridge they harden. If a soft date goes hard, warm it gently and it softens again. If it smells sour or shows white mould, throw it away.

Chhuhara and Zahidi, the dry dates, are the keepers: airtight, cool and dark, they last six months or more without any care at all, which is why they are the wedding and travel dates. Keep them away from damp — a wet hand in the jar is the one thing that spoils them — and they will outlast the winter.

Buy for the season: a kilo of Mazafati for the house, a box of Ajwa or Mabroom for the wedding, a kilo of chhuhara for the customs. That is the winter's khajoor, bought once, in November, at today's prices.

Which khajoor is best for daily eating?

Irani Mazafati at Rs 400 for 250g — soft, juicy, the best value on the shelf, and the same nutrition as the premium varieties. Aseel at a listed Rs 200 for 250g would be cheaper, but it is currently out of stock on the Shopify shop. Two to three dates a day is the portion for most adults.

Which khajoor is best for a shaadi gift?

Ajwa (250g Rs 1,100; 1kg wooden box Rs 5,800) or Mabroom (250g Rs 1,150; 1kg wooden box Rs 6,800). For a tasting gift that avoids choosing, the Premium Dates 6-partition box at Rs 4,300 carries six varieties in one box.

What is chhuhara, and why is it used in weddings?

Chhuhara is the dried date — firm, golden, chewy, less sweet than fresh dates — sold here as chuara at Rs 330 for 250g. It is the traditional wedding date: it goes into dry-fruit trays and trousseau boxes, it keeps for months, it travels well, and it is the date of the old customs as much as of eating.

Is Aseel khajoor available?

Not on the Shopify shop today — all Aseel packs are out of stock, though the listing still shows 250g at Rs 200. Until it returns, Irani Mazafati at Rs 400 for 250g is the daily-eating substitute. Iraqi Basra is not sold on the Shopify shop at all.

How long does khajoor keep?

Soft dates keep two to three months in an airtight box in a cool, dark cupboard. Dry dates — chhuhara and Zahidi — keep six months or more. Do not refrigerate soft dates unless you must; the fridge hardens them. Throw away any date that smells sour or shows mould.

Related: Khajoor (Dates) Ke Fawaid: Ajwa, Mabroom, Aseel Comparison · Panjiri at Today's Prices: The 2026 Cost + Portion Guide · 11.11 Dry Fruit Buying Guide 2026