MUSCAT: The summer heat can be quite tiresome, and for simply withstanding this scorching heat, we literally reap the sweetest fruits offered by mother nature. Thinking of those juicy and scrumptious fruits growing on the mountain tops. So are we, mate!
The villages of Jebel Shams in the Wilayat of Al Hamra in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate are among the villages that are famous for growing apricot trees. These seasonal fruits are abundant at the beginning of summer. They are planted on mountain tops at an altitude of 2,000 meters above sea level.
Cultivated in the villages of Dar Al-Sooda, Dar Laqoor, Mandaa and Misfat Al-Khawatir in Jebel Shams, apricots are one of the seasonal fruits grown here which require moderate temperatures in summer and cold in winter.
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“Apricot produce this year is pretty good compared to the previous years,” said Asaad bin Nasser Al-Khateri, from the village of Dar Al-Sooda. He believes that since a number of apricot trees have been planted, the yield will be more in the coming years.
He also hails the existence of a water project for the villages in Jabal Shams which has helped in providing irrigation for field crops.
Did you know that the apricot season in Oman is one of the short seasons whose production period does not exceed more than three weeks in May? It’s true, Asaad bin Nasser Al-Khateri said it himself!
What’s more? The price for apricots at the beginning of the harvest season is about OMR 3 and towards the end of the season, it drops to OMR 1 per kilogram. This is what we call as delicious on your palate and easy on your pockets!
When we dug deeper to know more about apricots in Oman, we were amazed that a popular Arabic saying also mentions apricots. ‘F’il mish-mish’ roughly translates to “in the time of the apricots” or “when the apricots bloom” — an English equivalent to this saying is “when pigs fly” or “in your dreams,” — meaning that something will never happen. Fascinating, isn’t it?
You wouldn’t disagree if we say it’s literally the time to indulge in some mish-mish, colloquial word for apricot, the formal Arabic word is al-barqouq.
