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Alkanet root: This
black root with a flaky paper-like covering gives the blue-purple
coloring in our Anisette soap.
Anise:
This aromatic herb is grown
in small quantities on farms throughout the region. We work with growers
in Khakrez for our supply of anise seed, used in the Anisette soap.
Apricot kernels: Though
apricots are not a mainstay of local agriculture, at least four different
varieties are present in the Kandahar region. Every Arghandab orchard
includes five or ten trees scattered among the pomegranates, for offering
fruit to guests. Arghand works with an Arghandab village elder named
Abd al-Manan for apricots. We spend the month of June making apricot
jam for the local market, and set aside the kernels for our Amandine
soap.
Artemisia (persica
and cina): Kandahar
area elders boast that every wild plant up in their mountains has
medicinal value. One of the most famous is Artemisia, a relative of
sage and absinthe. Arghand uses two different species of Artemisia
in our Desert Fields and Elixir of Artemis products.
Black cumin: This
particularly potent variety of cumin is grown predominantly in the
village of Khakrez. The plants are perennial, nourished by a hard
ball of root, each tiny cumin seed clasped at the end of a spindly
branch. Arghand's cumin comes from the lands of its director, Shafiullah
Afghan.
Castor beans:
The
trees grow plentifully around Kandahar. Periodically, Nurallah and
Abd al-Ahad take the truck out and cut the ripened seedpods - making
up some story to tell the municipal gardeners. Castor oil helps give
Arghand soap its dense, fluffy lather.
Licorice
root: grows
wild in the gardens and orchards arond Kandahar. Arghand will be working
with local farmers to encourage the cultivation of licorice root,
which, apart from Arghand's needs, enjoys an important international
demand for its culinary and medicinal properties. Licorice root gives
the golden-yellow color and some of the aroma to Arghand's Anisette
soap.
Madder root: These
slender roots give the dye that used to be called Turkish Red. It
is used in Afghan carpets, and in Arghand's Pomegranate and Kandahar
Rose soaps.
Pomegranate seeds: It
is difficult to miss the flood of recent scientific findings regarding
the health virtues of pomegranate. Quite apart from the fruit's anti-oxydant
and cancer-fighting properties, a 2006 University of Michigan Medical
School study has demonstrated that the oil of the pomegranate seed,
applied to skin cells, causes them to regenerate and thicken. No wonder
the growers of Arghandab district are famous for their smooth and
supple skin. Indeed, given their role in mythology and local lore,
it should come as little surprise that pomegranates prove to posess
medicinal value.
Some say the
forbidden fruit that Eve tasted in the Garden of Eden was no apple,
but a pomegranate. Or the Greek goddess Persephone, who could not
resist a few seeds during her captivity in Hades, and so brought winter
on us all. An 11th century Persian poet wrote this way of pomegranates,
splitting open under the autumn sun to reveal their precious cargo
of jewel-like seeds:
[In
the orchards]
Pomegranates, like innocents,
Expose the secrets of their hearts
To the whole universe.
From
these split fruits, bursting with ruby seeds, Arghand members painstakingly
extract and clean the hard white kernel, from which they obtain
a lucious golden oil that is the key ingredient in Arghand soaps.
Rosa damascena: This
is the variety of rose used in the highest-grade rose oil, a staple
ingredient of fine perfume. Indigenous to Kandahar, it is called
Kandahar Rose. So ancient is the art of distilling the essence of
this rose, that the very word for rose in Pashtu, the language of
southern Afghanistan, is "gul gulab", or flower-water
flower. But the wars practically killed off this tradition, and
Kandahar rose bushes have grown scarce in the countryside. Arghand
has contracted with farmers in Arghandab, Dund, and Zhari districts
to plant 1000 square meters of roses. We will be showing them and
other producers how to pluck the blossoms the morning they open,
leaving stem and leaves behind. And we distill the roses with a
modern food-grade stainless steel still, so as to separate the essential
oil from the high-quality rose water.
Salva Spinosa:
A member of the incredibly divers Salvia
genus, which includes sage and mint, Salvia spinosa grows wild in
upland wheat fields north of Kandahar. Its perfume is a heady concotion
of banana and lime. Arghand has contracted with a Khakrez farmer
to cultivate this blossom, which heretofore had no market.
Sweet almonds: Urozgan
Province, directly north of Kandahar, is particularly renowned for
its almonds. Still scarcely served by a paved road, Urozgan remains
one of the most isolated, poverty-stricken, and dangerous of Afghan
regions. Arghand works with a village elder named Habibullah ("Beloved
of God"), for its supply of sweet almonds.
Wild almonds: In
clefts in the cragged rocks north of Kandahar, the gnarled branches
of a few stubborn trees can be seen clinging. They are wild almonds.
Nomadic pastoralists called Kuchis gather their kernels
as they traverse the area with their flocks. Arghand women patiently
crack the tiny nuts, and their oil, as emollient as apricot kernel
oil, is featured in our Amandine and Elixir of Artemis soaps and
blended oils. We work with a keeper of the shrine in the village
of Khakrez for our wild almonds.
Wild pistachio (Pistacia khinjuk): These
peacock-blue pea-sized nuts are crunched, thin shell and all, as
snacks during the late fall in Kandahar. Their pungent, evergreen
flavor and unctious oil are key to Arghand's Desert Fields products.
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