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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Jeddah: Frankincense


These small golden nuggets were once considered more precious as gold itself.  More commonly known as frankincense, "luban" is the Arabic word for it.  But what exactly is frankincense?  You might be surprised to learn that it is actually the dried natural chewing gum of the Frankincense tree. Saudis like to chew it as gum, but I find it rather flavorless myself.  It is also burned as incense.  To learn more about the interesting history of frankincense, CLICK HERE.

7 comments:

  1. I remember hearing once that back in the day, it was a very valuable item.

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    1. Hi William - It seems so remarkable that something as simple as gum that doubles as incense was considered so valuable back in the old days.

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  2. Nice picture. We call it levona, like your luban, same root.
    That link to the herb blog is now bookmarked for future reference; it is quite a treasure.

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    1. Hi Dina - Glad you like the link. It really has great information.

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  3. I love burning luban in my home. Btw, I saw another version of it that was mixed with scented oils.

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    1. I've never actually burned it as incense myself, but I like the idea of mixing it with scented oils.

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  4. Hi, where to buy pure frankinsence oil in Jeddah? Thank you for your help.

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