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Merge 104.8 | 12 July 2020
As farmers in Oman get ready to celebrate the start of the date harvesting season, plantations throughout the governorates get ready for one of the more well-known local activities associated with date-palm production — ‘Tabseel’.
Celebrated annually, date harvesting in the Sultanate is considered one of the most important agricultural seasons due to its economic return, and usually spans a two- to three-week period.
As per Oman News Agency (ONA), the process of ‘Tabseel’ is the cooking of certain types of dates — the most famous of which is known locally as ‘Al Mabsali’, and is the primary variety used for the production of ‘Busoor’, along with other varieties of dates such as ‘Al Madlouki’ and ‘Abu Naranja’, which are boiled in rust-resistant copper pots, that can sustain high temperatures.
The ‘Tabseel’ process starts after the dates have ripened and turned yellow — also know as ‘Busoor’. The ‘Busoor’ are placed in large copper boilers filled with water where they are boiled for 15-20 minutes until well-cooked, and become what is locally-known as ‘Al Faghoor’.
The ‘Al Faghoor’ is then left out in the open under the sun to dry for anywhere between five to ten days, depending on temperature and weather conditions. Once dry, the ‘Al Faghoor’ is packaged for sale and export.
Farmers often sell their ‘Busoor’ — ripened yellow dates — to the government, represented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as well as abroad to foreign markets through its export operations.
Source: ONA
(Also read: Oman unveils new special OMR 50 banknote.)\
