al-Hasani
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JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS
Published — Saturday 14 December 2013
Last update 14 December 2013 3:57 am
The farms in the north of Saudi Arabia are rich in raisins and olives but the people are unaware of the techniques of pickling and preservation of these precious fruits to make them last through the year. This has prompted farmers to seek the expertise of residents from the nearby Levant countries.
Saeed Fraih Shaiman, director of the Social Development Center in Jabah, Hail, said the center is about to start training workshops for housewives to teach them various ways of preserving olive products. The courses will be conducted in cooperation with residents from the Levant, who will transfer their expertise to Saudi women, he said.
A number of housewives in northern Saudi Arabia talked to the newspaper about the extent of their knowledge of preserving olives.
“We don’t know how people in the Levant pickle olives and other products and make homemade jams. We can only use our farms’ produce during harvest time. Even though we have an abundant fig and grape production that can be used to make jams and raisins, women here don’t know how to preserve them. As a result, the harvest is mostly spoiled and thrown away,” said Um Muhammad.
Um Mohammad called on social development bodies to hold educational workshops which will show them how to preserve their farm produce.
Abu Fahad said he has an agreement with his friends from Levant countries residing in the northern part of the Kingdom: He picks the olives and gives them the harvest; their wives preserve and pickle the olives, and when they are ready, he takes half of the amount. He said farms in the north are rich in agricultural products like olives, but farmers’ lack of knowledge about preserving and exploiting these products fully leads to a large proportion of them being wasted. Many people seek the help of Levant nationals in this respect, he said.
Aeedah Al-Khalid, a Palestinian woman said preserving olives is fairly easy, but it requires knowledge and experience. For instance, green olives have to be slit open to rid them of the bitter taste. They are then washed and placed in salted water. The water has to be changed every two days for a period of 10 days. The olives are then placed in a jar with lemons, hot peppers and salted water.
“Black olives are washed, sprinkled with bicarbonates and left for a week. After the bitter taste is gone, the olives are washed in hot water and placed in a jar with salted water, or olive oil,” she said.
“Black olives can also be preserved by washing the olives sprinkled with a generous amount of salt, and placed in a bag with holes in it (onion bag). They are then hanged for two weeks to dispose of the bitter taste, washed again and placed in olive oil, salt, lemon and hot peppers,” she said, adding “olives can keep up to one year if they are preserved in the right way.”
Palestinians to give training in the art of making pickles | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.
