“white gold of the desert”

When you drive through the English countryside you are most likely to see sheep, cows and even the odd horse in the pastures and fields you pass. I can guarantee this is not the case when you leave the city of Dubai. But you will see farms, and on these farms you most definitely see camels. I always thought that they were bred predominantly for speed (camel racing) and then learnt they are also bred for beauty – camel beauty pageants are big business here. Once we had actually lived here for a bit I further discovered that they are bred for milk and meat (camel biltong is yummy and camel burgers supposedly very tasty too). The milk is rich in vitamins and minerals, and also lactose free. Stu was brave enough to try some once but I haven’t yet worked up the courage. Anyway the logical conclusion to all this milk production, although I would hate to have to do the milking myself, is that there would be some milk-based products available. And yes, it seems they do make camel chocolate. I wonder about cheese but I haven’t found any (not that I have really looked).

So today in The National, on the front page no less, is a story about a mother and her son who are making camel milk soap! And no, it’s not an April Fools Day joke story, I checked. It’s called the Camel Milk Soap company and they even have a website. The soap is organic, made by hand and contains not only camel milk but other essential oils and natural ingredients. It’s not tested on animals. According to the website it’s good for reducing the signs of ageing, like age spots and pigmentation, and is hypo-allergenic. The newspaper article also states that the soap is a natural antiseptic and has anti-fungal properties, according to the makers. Sounds pretty interesting actually. In fact they also offer gingerbread cookies and cheesecake, so I guess that answers the cheese question a little bit.

Perhaps Cleopatra was on to something when she bathed in milk, but was it camel’s milk I wonder?