For 10 years, the Independent has done its Best of Coachella Valley readers’ poll—and in every one of those polls, Shields Date Garden has won the Best Date Shake category.
Over 100 years, Shields Date Garden has become one of the Coachella Valley’s most historic institutions. Since 1924, the shop off Highway 111, featuring a giant knight statue, has welcomed visitors to enjoy dates—and learn about the date industry of the Coachella Valley.
“A lot of people are involved in what made Shields what it is today,” said Heather Raumin, the owner of Sheilds, during a recent phone interview. “We have the restaurant; we have our park; we have the storefront; and we have now our new coffee shop, The Knight’s Brew. Of course, we have our sister company, which is the Jewel Date Company, which is our date-processing and growing entity.”
Dates have long been synonymous with the Coachella Valley, thanks to the perfect environment our desert provides for date-growing.
“In the early pioneer days back in 1924, when dates were being introduced to the Coachella Valley, the United States Department of Food and Agriculture had done a rather large experiment to make sure that certain date varieties could successfully grow here,” Raumin said. “When that started to become reality, a lot of people decided to put their stake in and try growing dates. It is the date capital of North America: It is the only area that has the heat level, and we’re 200 feet below or at sea level, and all of these things help us grow. The Coachella Valley is sitting on an enormous amount of artesian wells, which has given it wonderful, rich soil, and it’s needed to grow all sorts of different fruits and vegetables here.”
Despite its legacy, Shields almost closed its doors 20 years ago.
“Shields was going to close around 2004,” Raumin said. “We had been selling dates, because we are growers, from the Jewel Date Company to Shields Date Garden, and we had information given to us that it was going to close. It was something that really was near and dear to our hearts to try to make it not close, because it was the last surviving date shop on Highway 111.”
Raumin said she and her husband were uniquely qualified to take over Shields.
“My husband has an agricultural finance degree, and I have a degree in business marketing, so it just kind of seemed like a good fit for us personally to give it a go,” she said. “I can’t say that I’d ever want to take any kind of credit, because in truth … we have an enormous amount of wonderful people who have helped us along the way. That starts at the palmeros, the growers, the independent growers, the city of Indio, the Chamber of Commerce and a lot of people who make Shields happen.”
Of course, Shields is best known for its date shake, a unique treat that’s popular in the Coachella Valley and beyond—and Shields’ date shake is particularly popular thanks to the ingenuity of the founder of Shields Date Garden, Floyd Shields.
“Coming here to the desert, there’s very little water, and there was next to nothing when it comes to refrigeration or freezing—so that is why Mr. Shields created the crystal,” Raumin said. “That (comes from) a date that actually, by happenstance, he grafted … where you take a slice off of one, and you literally cut it into another and see what happens. When Mr. Shields did this, he struck it lucky, and he developed the blonde date, which has a wonderful caramel-y taste. He was smart enough to put a patent on it, so it’s only sold here through Shields. The crystal, which is derived from that date, is dried, and then it’s made into these small little crystals, and that’s the foundation of our date shake. That’s what gives it that caramel-y aftertaste.”
Those crystals, Shields quickly realized, paired perfectly with dairy.
“Mr. Shields literally did his own pasteurization of milk and dairy products, and he put a lot of effort into developing the crystal and then infusing that into cold items,” Raumin said. “He wanted a niche, and that was his niche. Everybody else was hustling to ship out the dates that they harvested, because dates need to be frozen or refrigerated after their harvest is complete, so this was Mr. Shields’ way of giving a year-round nutritional date product to homes. It ships very easily, because it was dried, but once it’s rehydrated with water, it becomes a paste, and you can do everything with it—using it in baked goods, breads or, in our case, ice cream.”
In April 2022, the city of Indio, the county of Riverside and the state of California recognized Shields’ creation as the official county date shake.
“Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia and the county superintendent, (Edwin) Gomez, and our county supervisor, V. Manuel Perez, all came out, and they had a celebration in making our date shake the official county date shake,” Raumin said. “We were very, very, very proud of that moment when we were able to take Mr. Shields’ hard work and ingenuity and put it on official paperwork for the state. I think Mr. Shields would be happy.”
Looking toward the future, Raumin said she wants Shields Date Garden to help earn recognition for the hardworking individuals who have helped the Coachella Valley become the date capital.
“Our goal is to continue to educate people in not just date growing, but just farming as a whole,” Raumin said. “All the farmers in the Coachella Valley—all the date growers and vegetable growers—when our country was down with COVID, they were still going to work every day. They didn’t walk away from their fields; they worked. They made sure that our grocery stores were filled with produce, so my hat is off to the entire growing industry of not just California, but America as a whole. Growers definitely had days when they probably didn’t want to go to work either, but they did, because they knew that they had a responsibility to make sure that we didn’t lose out on one of our most important commodities.”
Raumin said that dates are actually good for you—meaning that date shakes must be, too! (Well, sort of.)
“Dates are very, very high in antioxidants and potassium,” Raumin said. “Although a lot of people look at them as being very sweet and sugary, (nutritionists) recommend that men eat about four a day, and women about three a day. That gives individuals their basic nutritional needs for potassium and for any oxidants—so as long as you can cut it off at four, it’s a good thing.”
Shields Date Garden is located at 80225 Highway 111, in Indio. For more information, visit shieldsdategarden.com.