>Western gastronomists would be SOOoooo
>upset if THESE fell under 'enemy' control!
>
>Arab News:
>The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
>
>Monday, 20, February, 2006 (21, Muharram, 1427)
>
>Truffle Hunters Test Borderline for Treasure
>Khaled Al-Awadh, Arab News -
>http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=78072&d=20&m=2&y=2006
>
>HAFR AL-BATIN, 20 February 2006 - Saudi police keep a close eye on
>the Kingdom's border with Iraq. Most of the year they're simply on
>the lookout for bad guys, but now they have to handle Bedouins
>intent on harvesting the borderline's truffle treasure trove.
>
>"It's forbidden to come close to the border," a Saudi policeman on
>border patrol tells a group of Bedouins who try to cross a sand
>barrier near the border. "Keep away."
>
>Truffle hunters in the northeastern region go as far as the
>Saudi-Iraqi border to collect the precious delicacies, which can be
>found in large quantities near Hafr Al-Batin.
>
>"There are truffles aplenty in these restricted areas," Abu Badr, a
>Bedouin for whom truffles are big business, told Arab News.
>
>"We start searching for truffles in the early hours of the morning
>and collect them until late in the day. Then we head toward Hafr
>Al-Batin to sell our yield there."
>
>Hafr Al-Batin is home to the biggest truffle market in the Kingdom
>with prices reaching up to SR200 per kilogram.
>
>Truffles are a sought-after food source in the Arabian Peninsula,
>and they are consumed by many Saudis at this time of the year. They
>grow on the ground, usually near a specific plant with the local
>names of jerraid or regroog, and their fruiting bodies grow
>underground. They are round, warty, and irregular in shape and vary
>from the size of a walnut to that of a man's fist.
>
>The fungus is scraped or grated onto food and into sauces and soups
>just before eating. Experts recommend that veal, chicken, fish,
>omelets, pasta, and rice can be glorified with thinly-sliced
>truffles. Cream and cheese sauces avidly take up their flavor.
>
>"There are huge quantities of truffles in the market," trader Saleh
>Al-Rasheedy told Arab News. "Hafr Al-Batin has been blessed with
>heavy rains this year. We also sell them to traders in other truffle
>markets such as those in Riyadh, Qassim and Jeddah."
>
>Asked about the location of truffle territory, Al-Rasheedy said the
>areas along the Saudi borders with Iraq and Kuwait to the north and
>east of Hafr Al-Batin are the truffle treasure troves.
>
>"Alwasmy Truffles," a popular Saudi dish when cooked with lamb, are
>grown in abundance in the northern frontier areas, Al-Jouf,
>Al-Qassim, Al-Kharj and the Najd region in general.
>
>--------
>It's so difficult, being a white guy in the western world...
>
>Leigh
>www.leighm.net
>http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
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