October 2013

Earlier this month I wrote about our newest special product: do'a, which we make by blending and mixing the apricot kernels, with coriander seeds and sesame seeds. 

Well! Look what I just came upon: an article by John Summerly in my science academy and he writes about the 10 top healthiest seeds!! Listed there are the apricot kernels, the sesame seed and coriander seed.  Click on the link and read the article :

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/02/19/the-top-10-healthiest-seeds-on-earth/

*********************************************

The date season started in mid September and is still going on.  Last weekend, Nawaya (https://www.facebook.com/groups/nawayaegypt/) in collaboration with Fagnoon (Sabeel Om Hashem) art and fun place on the Maryouteya canal held a date festival. The theme was dates and everything there was about dates. Nothing goes to waste with the date palm and its fruit! Click on the link and take a look at some of the fun things that were taking place!

And now we at  Minnie's are at it again drying our dates. 

We have 3 kinds of date palm that grow on our premises and this year we decided to dry all of our crop: 

• The 7amrawy dates, which are red and turn to black when they ripen . We dried them last year and they were a huge success, so we are doing it again this season.
• The seewee dates which are yellow and turn to brown when dried. We turned them into 3agwa last year, but this year I decided to pit them and dry them. And they are good!!
• The samanee dates which are a beautiful yellow color speckled with red dots and when ripen they turn to a light brown. Samanee dates are the ones used for making date jam.  But I went ahead and dried them too. And they are chewy and delicious!

Our customers love them, they eat them right out of the box as soon as they buy them and then they buy some more to take home and use in their cereals or in baking. 

What is new in October? 

Do'a. This is a special blend of spices and seeds used in the Middle East as a condiment over eggs, in fool-the Egyptian staple- with olive oil and bread-much like the zeet we zaatar ( olive oil and thyme) of Lebanon. We make our very own Do'a using the almonds of the apricot fruit and coriander and sesame seeds. Some we spice up with a little chili for those who like it hot and some we add a little salt. Try it, we know you'll like it.

Molokheya: that grows on our premises under safe agriculture practices. We dry it to extend its seaon. 

Mint: also grown on our premises. It is so fragrant and green even when dried.

Figs: from the North Coast. Peeled and dried in our solar tunnel.Exquisite! This is a first for us and we are happy to offer these delicious Egyptian figs to you.

Watermelon: yes! People laughed at this idea of drying watermelon since it is more than 80% water. But dried watermelon turned out to be a treat! Those who have tried them, have fallen in love with them. Unfortunately we have a very limited supply. 

Enjoy!