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<pre>Hello,
About Kaye remarks :
The za'ater ( not zattar as in my post of 3/8 ) my favourite comes
from Mazzaz in Aleppo.Next week, I will be travelling to Syria and ask
her about it.

I found two books on Syrian/Lebanese cooking :
They highlight the only point of my previous post : Syrian cooking
deserves a book ( 400 pages) by itself.
I may write it in French.

Helen Corey's Food from Biblical Lands : A Culinary Trip to the Land of
Bible History
by Helen Corey
Paperback (December 1989) out of print
Helen Corey; ISBN: 0962637602

Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen : A
Culinary Journey Through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
by Sonia Uvezian
Hardcover - 425 pages (September 1999)
Univ of Texas Pr; ISBN: 0292785356
This item will be published in September 1999

About Sadoun remarks :
cooking : I forgot to include Jordan cooking in the Syrian/Lebanese one
but I don't know much about Jordan, I never visited although Petra is
on my wish list.

continuous separation : I don't understand its influence on the acid
level ( refer http://www.multimania.com/syrie/oliveoil.htm ) . Can you
explain ?
About the delay induced by the inadequate pressing capability : Does
that not imply more presses instead of more modern ones ?
Are you sure about wthe delay of weeks before the olive can be pressed ?
What could be the extra cost of the modern equipment (Return on
Investment Time) ?
Considering that only the producers equipped with modern equipment will
be suited to export , are they able to export and market their oil?
Syrian businessmen are very secretive and you will be amazed at the
kind of modern equipment you can find in some 'hidden' place. ( eg I
found machine tools that most French mechanics cannot afford).
Some producers are pressing only their production and you will not have
access to their facilities.

For the Syrian market , it seems that the domestic price of olive oil
has collapsed because the local customer cannot afford to pay for olive
oil far more than he/she can pay for the sunflower oil.

TV : Its influence on the diet in Syria is so important , advertising
for cheap sunflower oil makes wonder ; it looks so modern , like
cornflake with sugar , video games , .....

About Chew remarks
Syrian cultivar : Massabi gives a large fruit which can be cured with
citrus juice for conservation : very tasty
It would be of some interest to test it , but I think there is some
kind of quarantine in NZ and OZ .
I know that an establishment is already exporting plants and seeds . (
Their prices are very competitive )


About Edward's remarks
In Syria, there are green and black olives. Some customers like the
very soft, almost mushy consistency of the black olives you got . But
, it always depends from the supplier . But there is a lot of different
preparation and the green olive are usually less soft than the black
ones.
There is also some stuffed olive .

Sincerely,
Souhair

Read related messages from the original newsgroup:
http://decaf.talkway.com/cgi-bin/cgi....culture.syria
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Original message found at Talkway -- http://www.talkway.com
Exchange ideas on practically anything (tm).
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<pre>>From: "syrien_paris" <syrie@multimania.com>
>continuous separation : I don't understand its influence on the acid
>level ( refer http://www.multimania.com/syrie/oliveoil.htm ) . Can you
>explain ?

Since the continouse (centrifuge) lines have a higher capacity (throughput)
than the hydraulic equipment, it will process more olives at a certain time.

Processing Capacity Olive (KG)/Hr
Hydrualic 500kg/hr
Centrifuge 1000 - 3000kg/hr (depending on the decanter size)

Thus, the olive at the continous plant will wait significantly less time
before it is processed than the olive that is waiting at the traditional
press. As you may know, the olive starts to deteriorate from the moment you
pick it off the tree.



>About the delay induced by the inadequate pressing capability : Does
>that not imply more presses instead of more modern ones ?

During the harvest season in Syria most of the farmer at a certan town pick
their olives within a four weeks window. That creates congestions at the
presses due to lack of high processing capacities.

>Are you sure about wthe delay of weeks before the olive can be pressed?
This is true at many of the presses in the North. Even though they have old
hydraulic presses, the farmers still go to them and wait for days and
sometime "over a week" to get their olives presses.

In Jordan we run into this situation on rare occasions in the middle of the
harvest season. However, we strive to process the olives within 24 hrs of
receipt at the press property.


>What could be the extra cost of the modern equipment (Return on
Investment Time)?

That will have to be discussed on a case by case bases.

>Considering that only the producers equipped with modern equipment will
>be suited to export , are they able to export and market their oil?

They do export to the Arabian Gulf region. I don't have the complete
statistics on Syria. However, to be a world class contender, the Syrian
olive oil have to compete not only in quality but in price as well. I
belive that the Syrian olive oil can compete in both.

>Syrian businessmen are very secretive and you will be amazed at the
>kind of modern equipment you can find in some 'hidden' place. ( eg I
>found machine tools that most French mechanics cannot afford).

The Allepo traders and manufacturers are famouse in the Middle East for
their creativity and capabilities.

>Some producers are pressing only their production and you will not have
>access to their facilities.

Can you give some examples?


>For the Syrian market , it seems that the domestic price of olive oil
>has collapsed because the local customer cannot afford to pay for olive
>oil far more than he/she can pay for the sunflower oil.

That is were the export market should be looked at by the Syrian producers.
Maybe the olive cooperatives and business groups should encourage the
production of quality olive oil that will meet the world class standards.

Jamal Sadoun
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