This is one must see in Nazareth, its a 100 year old Arab business selling spices but also a lot of other food by weight, not only is there an exciting array of exotic smells of items generally absent from clinical western supermarkets..

..is watching the equipment used for making and processing the products they sell..

Left is ancient machinery that runs on steam for processing chick peas, on the right is a huge coffee roaster.

Where as this is more of a retailer in the traditional model here in the middle east, it got me thinking, in mid 1980s UK, various shops I know tried experimenting with pick and mix for all kinds of things, of course most people think of Woolworths for sweets sold by weight, but also my home city of Portsmouth, there was a store selling everything by weight including nuts, cornflakes, flour, etc in large storage bins which required amounts from customers are put into bags and weighed with minimal packaging.   This died out after a few years probably due to hygine concerns.

Here in this store you can buy all kinds of exotic spices, teas, coffee, nuts and dried fruit etc.    If you are used to the ‘Shuk’ (the outdoor market in Jerusalem, than this is not really a novelty, but this particular retailer seems to also sell things wholesale and get some items from abroad too (ie: from Turkey)

I got 200 grams of these brightly coloured sugared almonds which look quite old school.   Think the last time I had these in the UK as a lad they are often extremely hard and people have been known to break their teeth on them, but these are soft and very pleasant here.  Cheap too at 6 Shekels (£1 or s0)

Check out the store’s site at www.elbabour.com – Mostly Arabic, some in English so use http://translate.google.com

1. Arrival at the city – 2. Staying in the old city – 3. The modern day Nazarene carpenter – 4. Where Jesus first preached – 5. Religious vehicles in Nazareth – 6. Mary’s Well and the Bath house – 7. The precipice – 8. On top of the Precipice hill – 9. More old city streets and market – 10. The spice shop – 11. Churches from A to Z or Alpha to Omega – 12. The Basilica church – 13. Easter service at the Basilica