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jar of honey with honeycomb on wooden table

Hadramout Honey

Known for its rich, strong flavor, is famous throughout Arabia and is claimed to be the best (and is certainly the most expensive) honey in the world. It is used medicinally, as well as for food. Bee keeping is probably one of the oldest forms of food gathering in the region, as evidenced by rock engravings in the areas, and at one time practically every house in Wadi Doan had a beehive. There is a variety of types of hive, including bored – out logs with removable wooden ends.
These are usually made from the sukam (Cordia abyssinica), a broad – leaved evergreen tree which grows around the edges of fields along the wadi floors (in is also used as a shade tree in highland coffee plantations).
Many beekeepers are nomadic, moving into areas where there are flowers for the bees to live off. The highest-quality honey comes from bees fed on natural flora such as desert bushes and the blossom of the ilb and sibr trees, rather than in cultivated vegetation areas.

Mandi

Mandi is usually made from rice, meat (lamb or chicken), and a mixture of spices. The meat used is usually a young and small sized lamb to enhance the taste further. The main thing which differentiates Mandi from other meat dishes is that the meat is cooked in the tandoor (taboon in Hadhrami), which is a special kind of oven. The tandoor is usually a hole dug in the ground and covered inside by clay. To cook mandi, dry wood is placed in the tandoor and burned to generate a lot of heat turning into charcoal. The meat is then suspended inside the tandoor without touching the charcoal. After that, the whole tandoor is closed but an airvent is given to remove excess smoke. Raisins, pine nuts, or peanuts can be added to the rice as per one's taste.

Mocha

The Mocha coffee bean is a variety of coffee bean originally from Mocha, Yemen. It is harvested from the coffee-plant species Coffea arabica, which is native to Yemen. In appearance it is very small, hard, round with an irregular shape, and olive green to pale yellow in colour. The Mocha coffee bean has a distinct flavor. Due to the similar name, it is sometimes confused with a chocolate-flavored coffee. In the 17th century, the Mocha coffee bean was available only from the city of Mocha in Yemen and, to prevent propagation, shipped only after roasting.

Saltah

Saltah is the traditional dish of Northern areas of Yemen and is a lunchtime staple in nearly all households, especially in the highlands region of Yemen. The essential ingredient to saltah is Hulba (a whipped fenugreek) condiment. Saltah can be made with meat or it can be also made vegetarian. This Yemeni dish is truly one-of-a-kind!

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