Dates in Oman (excerpt from Unknown Oman, by Wendell Phillips)
“Depending on one’s state of mind, the state of the weather
and the time of day, a graceful date garden can be a scene of exceeding beauty.
Oasis life is more refined than life on the open desert, with certain oasis
tribes proudly referring to themselves as “ahl an-nakhl” (people of the palm).
As a general rule, the Omanis eat their dates raw. They claims to possess over
one hundred varieties of dates, which are both the ‘staff of life’ and ‘bread
of the land’, and they assert that a good wife can place before her husband a
dish of dates differently prepared every day of the month. As first noted by
Carsten Neibuhr in the late eighteenth century, Arabs classify dates into hot
or cold depending on the taste. Oman produces a dozen first-class types of soft
dates, with those from al-Batinah noted for their flavor and maturing earlier
than those from Basrah. The main variety on al-Batinah (not found in the
interior) is the umm silah which, packed in the palm-frond basket, is well know
in the markets of South Arabia. The mabsali is not restricted to al-Batinah
(found in the interior and on the coast); it is boiled when it reaches the red
stage and it is the type which brings the highest price. The most celebrated
Omani varieties are the Fardh, Khalas and Khanaizi. Pliny stated in his Natural
History that if he could remember their barbarous names he could list
forty-nine varieties of dates. In all, over 500 different names and epiphets
are used in Arabia, for the date reigns supreme as the queen of trees. Truly
the one-humped camel and the date palm are the symbol of Arabia.
