Seductive fragrances linger in Deira

Dubai: For more than 55 years, Dubai's Spice Souq has been serving up a wealth of treats for visitors and residents alike.

Walking through the winding alleys is like taking a step back in time, reminiscent of a time before supermarkets existed.

Situated just a stone's throw from the Creek in Deira, the spice souq is a bustling hive of activity and can be easily reached via an abra or a water bus from the Bur Dubai side.

Heady smells of frankincense, myrrh and cooking spices fill the air around the trading shops, which are covered from the baking sun by a welcome wooden roof.

Traders sell everything from dried roses and sage for making tea to huge salt rocks and indigo for dying clothes. Strong Arabic perfume is also available and is sold by the volume.

Dried lemons, bay leaves, Iranian chillies and cassia bark are used for flavouring soups and dishes, while dried senna leaves can be used for stomach complaints and pumice, a volcanic rock, can be used to exfoliate hard skin on the body.

Many of the open-front shops also sell dietary teas and natural henna for skin decoration.

Decades of training

Many of the traders are Iranian, and receive daily and weekly deliveries of dried spices and produce from Iran.

The goods are sold by weight; the price of which vary dramatically.

For example, 100g of senna costs just Dh10, while high-quality Iranian saffron costs Dh100 for just 10g.

Saffron strands are the stigmas of the purple crocus flower (each flower produces three stigmas), which are hand-picked during blossoming, dried and fermented slightly. It takes approximately 14,000 stigmas to produce just 28g of the sought-after spice.

The labour-intensive process of harvesting the saffron is the reason why it is so expensive worldwide.

Cheaper saffron can be purchased, although it is just used in cooking to add the famous deep red colour.

Abdullah Rzai has been working at the Deira Spice Souq for more than 20 years, weighing out and selling the spices to the hundreds of people that pass through daily.

"We have a lot of people that come through every day and the shop has been here for a very long time. It's mostly tourists that come through to look at all the spices, and every day is a busy day," he said.

Abdullah Samad, manager of the Ali Akbar Zamani trading shop, values this custom highly.

"I'm not the boss. When you're in my shop, you're the boss," he said.

If you're looking for something different to spice up your evening meal and make a good outing, the choice of spices available at the souq will not disappoint.