The Prophet of Allah ﷺ was suffering from severe hunger. When this news reached Ali, he went out seeking work by which he could earn something to feed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He came to an orchard belonging to a Jewish man and drew seventeen buckets of water for him, each bucket in exchange for a date. The Jewish man let him choose from his dates, and Ali selected seventeen ajwa dates and brought them to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.
حدثنا محمد بن عبد الأعلى الصنعاني حدثنا المعتمر بن سليمان عن أبيه عن حنش عن عكرمة
أصاب نبي الله ﷺ خصاصة فبلغ ذلك عليا فخرج يلتمس عملا يصيب فيه شيئا ليقيت به رسول الله ﷺ فأتى بستانا لرجل من اليهود فاستقى له سبعة عشر دلوا كل دلو بتمرة فخيره اليهودي من تمره سبع عشرة عجوة فجاء بها إلى نبي الله ﷺ
No references are available.
[Its chain of transmission is extremely daif] Bayhaqi narrated it, 6/119, from the hadith of Mutamir with this wording, and Busiri and Husayn bin Qays declared it daif. His nickname was Junush, and he is discarded, as stated in Taqrib and elsewhere.