That’s what it felt like when Sarah Melamed and I entered the 100-year-old Babour spice store in Nazereth – like stepping into Alladin’s Cave. And if you consider herbs, coffee beans and exotic spices jewels, then everywhere were jewels, packed into sacks. The aroma in the old store was exotic, a mix of aromatic herbs, coffee, sweet dried fruit, and a certain Oriental something that made me feel like I’d truly been transported to a strange new country. But the resident genie didn’t float in the air showering dubious blessings on our heads. He’s a down-to-earth, friendly man called Tony Kanaza and the third-generation owner of the business.
Here he stands in front of a huge cabinet whose shelves bear packaged spices and bottles of distilled oils and perfumes.
Tony let us have free run of the store, which is housed in a stone building surely dating back to the days when the Ottomans ruled the Holy Land. Traces of the noble old building’s arched windows remain for romantic people like me to ponder over.
Tony knows everything about the herbs and spices: what dishes to cook with them, and what ailments they cure. I saw a young Arab woman asking him for something to relieve heartburn: he took her to a big burlap bag containing whispy, strawlike stuff and told her to make tea of it. Another customer wasn’t sure if the deep-yellow dried safflower petals would taste good in the chicken dish she was planning. Tony considered the question with due gravity and recommended using turmeric root instead.
Another thing I noticed was the way he greeted every single customer with a genuine smile and a gentle “Ahalan wa-saalam,” and that when a customer left, he again made sure to dignify him or her with a courteous personal goodbye.
In fact everywhere in Nazareth, which is a Moslem/Christian town, I sensed a slower rhythm in the people, a willingness to take more time, to appreciate life. I also walked without fear in the shuk. Whatever people’s politics might be there, they didn’t visit their views on the shoppers, and if they harbor hostility, I didn’t feel it.
But let me show you some of the treasures we saw.
Cinnamon bark, dried safflowers, hibiscus. Behind on the right is dried lemon grass.
Coffee beans.
Indian barley and senna pods.
Fragrant dried rosebuds.
Cassia bark, a basket full of rolling pins and ma’amoul cookie molds straight from the carpenter, and dried chillies.
There were some ceramic wares. Below are incense burners. I assume they’re for church functions.
Rough-cast cups and jars with slits for coins – they’re either for charity or piggy banks. They’re very cheap, and so they have to be, because to get the money out, you have to smash the jar!
Tony told me that the pear-shaped jars with round openings are meant to be hung on tree branches so birds will nest inside. And do you see the jars with heart-shaped openings on the left, next to the basket of nutmegs? They’re also for hanging on trees, but with candles inside, to create a soft illumination that ‘s easier on the spirit than electric light.
Cleaning the herbs involves a lot of work. These well-used sieves help to separate the light, dry herb matter from heavier dirt.
These red and white beans were freshly dried. A revelation in cooking: I’m so used to beans that have sat on store shelves and dried up that I was amazed at how quickly they cooked up, and at how delicious their fresh taste was.
Boxes of chewing gum.
All kinds of dried fruit:
Wonderful, isn’t it? I even love the store’s receipt:
Sarah and I spent a wonderful afternoon traipsing through this store. We also explored the steep alleys and winding stone stairways of the Nazereth shuk. But that’s a story for another day.
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Lovely pictures Mimi! Is that store where the old shouk is in Nazeret;I think I have been there while I was living in Karmiel. What does one do with Indian barley,never seen that before…
Did you buy a maamoul mould? I have one of those too
Hi, Yael,
Yes, it’s in the old shuk. Amazing, isn’t it? Indian barley, I suppose you cook just like barley from anywhere else. What makes it special, I don’t know.
I bought several ma’amoul molds. My next kitchen project is making ma’amoul. Have you made them?
I last made maamoul when still living in Finland,ages ago! I have 2 maamoul moulds and I should use them sometimes…..The shuk in Nazareth is really amazing!
Thank you so much for your beautiful blog. I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago and I love how you showcase shops, markets, etc. I also appreciate your comments on how you *felt* while you were there – the hospitality, the safety – all of that is so important in global relations and gives me hope for my eventual visit to Israel!
Someone suggested using the molds for butter or for savory pastries. I think those are good ideas.
Lovely! Wish I could have been there with you. Here in NYC we’ve got Kalustyan’s–nothing like the history of Tony’s location, but yes, bins of exotic spices, dried fruit, beans and grains. I love going in there just for the smells!
I wish you could have been with me, too, Leda. You would have loved the store, and enjoyed the walk through the shuk, too.
Btw,the best maamouls ever I had in Caracas, in a Lebanese place called El Arabito. I can still remember how they tasted like…..
Those ma’amoul must have been spectacular, Yael. I’m getting all inspired now…I do have the molds!
what a lovely post, you really brought the store to life!
That top clay pot with the opening looks like it also has two smaller holes. Perhaps they’re oil lamps?
Ah, I could almost smell the spices!
Great post!
Devo, I called Tony and asked him about the ceramic ware. He said that the slotted jars are indeed piggy banks and that the pear-shaped jars with holes at the “stem” end are meant to hang on tree branches to encourage birds to nest in them. Isn’t that neat?
Behind the cups you can glimpse a clay vessel with a heart-shaped hole – you’re supposed to hang it from a tree branch or sit it on a metal tray, then put a candle inside to make a soft illumination. So your guess was close.
Thank you, Sarah!
The aroma in the store was so spicy and heady…just a delicious smell. Thanks.