At the end of the 19th century into the beginning of the 20th, plant explorers from the
USDA were sent to search globally for new crops that could be farmed in North America. These explorers returned with date palms from North Africa and the Middle East. The explorer, Walter Swingle brought back six medjool date offshoots from a Moroccan oasis; these six offshoot specimens "account for all the megool dates grown in the US." Another news source states that Nicoll built his shack in 1919. A few years later, this shack was expanded and named
Valerie Jean after Nicoll's daughter. With electricity and refrigeration, the Nicolls were able to offer variations of ingredients blended with their supply of dates. Nicoll was reportedly inspired by stories of nomads in the Middle East who he heard "lived entirely on dates and goat’s milk". The Coachella Valley has numerous date shake shops, many of them are located on
Highway 111. The small desert town of
Westmoreland, where
medjool dates are grown, and
Indio, where Shields is located, are known for their date shakes. They are a popular drink at the
Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival and during the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. == References ==