Food Heritage Foundation
The pomegranate shrub (small tree) has been planted in the Mediterranean region since ancient times. The name pomegranate derives from medieval French and means seeded apple. In many cultures, the fruit symbolizes prosperity and fertility.
Check out the full article in Taste&Flavors magazine, Autumn 2016 issue.
Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans and Egyptian beans are the main ingredient in many recipes worldwide. In Lebanon, chickpeas or hummus in Arabic, are an important ingredient in mainly vegetarian dishes like falafel, fattit hummus, balila, eggplant moussaka, mansoufit kolkas (taro with tahini sauce), and khebbeyze
(mallow). Chickpeas are also eaten raw and green, called oumm klaybani or hummus akhdar in Arabic. Roasted chickpeas known as qdameh can be coated with spices and salty flavors and eaten with nuts (qdameh safra). Chickpeas coated with sugar are popular in Lebanon and called “mlabbas aa qdameh”.
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Common fig or Ficus Carica, is one of the oldest fruit trees native to the Mediterranean region, more specifically the Middle East where remnants of fig cultivation dating back to 5,000 BC have been found in Jordan, Syria and Iraq.
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Indigenous to the Mediterranean region, fennel, shoumar
in Arabic, is widely distributed in the world and renowned
for its culinary and medicinal uses.
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Grown from September to March, chards are widely used in the Mediterranean and Lebanese cuisine.
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[quote]A unique way to preserve fruit is to make a traditional liqueur, perfect for gifts and homemade treats[/quote]
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Towards the end of summer, many fields in the Bekaa Valley can be seen sprinkled with orange dots, the Cucurbita
Pepo, commonly known as pumpkin, squash and winter squash, are a true joy to the eye. Pumpkins were introduced
to Europe after Columbus’s discovery of America and from there spread to North Africa and the Middle East.
In Lebanon, pumpkins are usually planted towards the end of April in order to be harvested starting mid-summer until fall. This plant requires warm weather and lots of water during its cultivation. Since it produces fruit over a span of 3-2 months, it is harvested several times during the season. In the traditional Lebanese diet, both seeds and flesh are consumed and have several nutritional benefits. It is recommended to buy organic pumpkins as soil contaminants tend to be highly absorbed. Pumpkin pulp is one of the main sources of antioxidants such as carotenoids; it is also an important source of fiber, Vitamins A, C and B complex. The vegetable can be prepared
both savory, as soup and kebbeh, and sweet as dessert and jams, flavored with cloves, orange peel and musk and mixed with nuts such as almonds and pine nuts. Pumpkin seeds are rich in manganese, phosphorus, copper and magnesium as well as zinc. When roasted the seeds are a healthy snack, best eaten unsalted to avoid health problems like high blood pressure. Jazarieh, a traditional sweet consumed during the month of Ramadan, is made from pumpkin and sold in Arabic sweet shops, mainly in Saida and Tripoli, two Lebanese cities renowned for their desserts.
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In Lebanon, the consumption of goat’s milk is valued on a national level; in 2010, goat milk production reached 32 million tons. Goat dairy products are consumed as cheese, laban, labneh, ayran and other more typical products characterized by their production and conservation techniques like kishk, ambarees labneh and darfieh cheese. While ambarees, traditionally produced in the Bekaa Valley, consists of fermented raw goat milk in earthenware jars, darfieh cheese, a specialty of North Lebanon, is fermented in a cow skin prepared in advance especially to make this cheese. Goat milk production is seasonal, and preservation methods of caprine dairy products vary: goat labneh and ambarees are usually shaped into small balls and conserved in glass jars with olive oil, they also can be frozen for later use. Darfieh cheese is conserved in olive oil as well, baladi goat cheese is preserved in brine, and kishk is conserved as powder to be used in soup and other recipes.
Check out the full article in Taste&Flavors magazine.