Plant Profiles

This heirloom Ba’al (rain-fed) wheat variety is the long lost love of Palestinian wheat. Known to many as Abu Samara — the dark and handsome one — because this wheat bears stunning black whiskers (or “awns”), it is more officially known as “Habeh Soda.” It grows on short/medium-sized plants, putting most of its energy into seed production, while many other old varieties of wheat produce long straw as well. Its cultivation has diminished greatly due to pressure on farmers to grow modern industrial wheat varieties, but its return is welcomed with deep love by farmers and older Palestinians who remember the cake-like bread made from its light brown grains.

Abu Samara is a winter variety, well adapted to Palestine’s dry climate. It is planted in late fall or early winter and harvested with a sickle in mid-summer. To make Freekeh (Palestine’s famous toasted green wheat), plants are harvested in April or May, the grain-heads are then thrown into fire to toast, and then rubbed between palms so that the husks may be winnowed away. It is then cracked and cooked as rice to accompany stews or for use in salads.

Palestine composes the western rim of the Fertile Crescent, which is the center of diversity for both wheat and barley. This means both crops were likely domesticated there, and their wild relatives (the ancestors of their domesticated cousins) can still be found growing wild in the hills and valleys of Palestine. In many ways, wheat made modern human culture possible. It’s not a coincidence that major markers of human civilization — written language, the wheel, glass, irrigation, and indeed agriculture itself — were first developed in our region. Wheat may be the greatest gift left to us by our ancestors — and Abu Samara is one of its best exemplars.

This magical summer crop comes from the Palestinian plains — though, like many other crops, its deeper roots lie in Africa. Our okra grows tall, with humble, medium-sized dark-green pods, some with faint greyish stripes along the ribs. This is a landrace variety containing some evident diversity, not only in form but also in phenology: some of the plants begin producing pods quite early, while others take their time. This helps farmers have a longer season.

Our okra is a Ba’al (rain-fed) summer variety typically planted in Palestine on St. George’s Day (May 8th). Ba’al is an ancient cultivation tradition in which no irrigation is used. The crop is entirely dependent on the moisture retained in the soil from the rainy season through the summer. Ba’al agriculture was developed in the Fertile Crescent, of which Palestine is the Western arm. The name comes from the Canaanite deity of fertility and destruction, who has a spiritual connection to the contemporary Christian St. George (referred to in Arabic as “Khader el Akhdar,” or “St. George The Green”). Khader is a highly revered saint in Palestine for both Christians and Muslims alike and he is considered the saint of generosity, abundance, and agriculture.

These big, beautiful, pink-hued tomatoes have ancestry in the Beit Omar/Hebron region of the West Bank. As a Ba’al (rain-fed) variety, they are traditionally not irrigated in Palestine, but seeded in March and later transplanted into a 10-12 inch hole filled with water. The soil around each plant is covered with hay or dry grass, not to be watered for the remainder of the season.

'Bitinjan Battiri' means "Eggplant of Battir," and this is the thorny-crowned pale purple eggplant from Palestine's famed Battir Valley. It is commonly served stuffed with meat and/or rice and other vegetables, and the thorny crowns themselves are also considered a delicacy.

Fakous is a beloved Palestinian heirloom melon that grows and is treated just like a cucumber — similar to other melons known as "Armenian Cucumbers" in English, "Kakadee" in Hindi, or "Carosello" in Italian. "Fakous" is the Arabic word for this kind of melon, and it is used to describe a range of different forms. Our Palestinian variety has more in common with some of the Italian types than the Armenian types — the fruits are fuzzy when young, ribbed rather than irregularly textured, and more comparable in size to standard cucumbers. The flavor is mild — even milder than a cucumber — and the texture is crunchy. They are never bitter, and the skin is thin and tasty, so it is seldom if ever peeled off. We commonly eat these raw, but also sometimes pickle them.

One favorite recipe is very simple and involves lacto-fermentation: start by scrubbing fuzzy young fakous with your hands to remove the fuzz, then make a single slice down one side (but not all the way through — you're just making sure the brine gets in), wrap each one in a fresh grape leaf, then submerge in salty brine and let them sit out for three or four days (loosely covered so they don't explode). And that's it. They're ready to eat right then, or they can be kept in the fridge for months (but they probably don't even need the fridge if you're going to eat them within a few weeks). If you can't find fresh grape leaves — even wild grape leaves will do — you can use the type sold in jars.

Jadu'i is a legendary watermelon variety from Jenin, the occupied Palestinian city in the West Bank. There was a time when Jadu'i watermelons (pronounced "jah-doo-AYE") were exported from Jenin by truck to Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. Associated with ba'al agriculture (unirrigated, rain-fed farming), these watermelons were long known for their resilience, and beloved for their sweet, rich flavor, and large size.

This watermelon is of deep importance to many Palestinian people. Known for its disease resistance and adaptation to the microclimate, Jadu’i watermelon fields were symbolic of many Palestinian farmers’ lived experiences: Palestinian women gave birth in the melon fields; many sought refuge in the fields during times of war; and some still remember the good days, when the long-storing watermelons were kept under beds to be eaten during the winter. This watermelon has stayed carved in peoples’ memories until this day. There is no one (of a certain age) from Jenin who would not have a story to share from their parents or their own experience of this once beloved melon that shaped so much of our culture.

But the disruption of Palestinian lifeways caused by the Israeli occupation and the ongoing cycles of violence and dispossession (along with patterns in modern agriculture that privilege hybrid seed over open-pollinated heirloom varieties) have left traditional Palestinian agriculture hanging by a thread — or already gone in too many places. When PHSL’s founder Vivien Sansour started looking for Jadu'i, she was told she was “looking for a dinosaur”. But thankfully she persisted, and finally she found one old farmer who had a handful of old seeds in a drawer.

This beautiful Palestinian arugula (known simply as "jarjeer", which means arugula in Arabic) comes from deep in the hills of the UNESCO World Heritage village of Battir at a place called Ein Abu-El-Harth ("the spring of the plowman") in the occupied West Bank. This is a spicy, strongly-flavored arugula, excellent for salads (often served with fresh onions and wild-harvested sumac). It's typically found raw as a side dish next to lentil soup and other Palestinian dishes, especially in winter — when the plant is at its best. Palestinians (among others) consider arugula an aphrodisiac, particularly beneficial for those who lack adequate stamina to keep up with their partner in the bedroom! Usually planted in late summer or fall for production through Palestine's relatively mild winter, it can be succession-sowed during the spring and early summer as well (but it has a short harvest window in the warm months, quickly going to flower and ceasing leaf production).

Kousa is the Arabic word for zucchini — cylindrical summer squash of the Cucurbita pepo species — but the varieties known as kousa are not at all the same as the standard supermarket zucchini. The typical kousa, especially popular in Lebanon and Syria, is very pale green during the eating stage, ripening to white or tan or yellow when fully mature. This type of kousa is also popular in Mexico and among Mexican diaspora communities (it is sometimes called a “grey zucchini” in US markets), believed to have been brought to Mexico by Middle Eastern immigrants. However, the Palestinian kousa variety we steward is strikingly different. It also grows on sprawling, vining plants, but its fruit are mostly dark green with lighter stripes, and these stripes may ripen to yellow or orange as the fruit matures. The fruits have a similar size and shape to the more familiar kousa types (thicker and stouter than the average Italian zucchini), and they are also similarly delicious. One classic recipe, Kousa Mahshi, sees the fruit stuffed with rice and meat and cooked in a rich tomato-based broth.

This special heirloom seed from Jenin and Jericho grows into a leafy plant that provides the base for one of Palestine’s most beloved dishes. Molokhia — a form of jute with useful stalk fibers for making cordage and various textiles — grows tall in the heat of the summer. Its fresh leaves are cooked into stew with plenty of garlic, and served over rice with fresh lemon. For year-round use, especially in winter, fresh leaves are stripped from the stalks and then dried. Gazans accompany molokhia stew with a spicy sauce called “doga,” made from cilantro, lemon, chili and raw garlic. This nutrient-dense, ancient plant comes originally from Africa (like so many other Palestinian crops, including okra, watermelon, and gourds). It is grown with irrigation in the summer.

An old story about this leafy vegetable is that the Pharoahs of Egypt outlawed it because it “drove people crazy” since it was considered an aphrodisiac and a food only for “El Mulok” (Arabic for royalty), which is where its name comes from.

A very unique spinach with an intense, delicious flavor. Its pointy, dark-green leaves are used in stews and pies with onions, olive oil and wild sumac. Unlike commercial spinach, this special heirloom has spiky seeds that look almost like celestial objects — think galaxies or nebulas. All spinach once had seeds like this, but the trait has been bred out of modern spinaches (along with who-knows-what other traits). This is a Ba’al (rain-fed) winter variety that is planted in late fall and can handle small to moderate amounts of cold and even snow. A generous plant, it typically offers several cuttings throughout the season. However, if planted during warm months, it will quickly bolt.

This Palestinian heirloom coriander has mostly been chilling in a US government seed bank for the past twenty years. Prior to that, it was stewarded for at least a century on the Arraba plain south of Jenin (in the northern West Bank) by the family of farmer Fasal Luhloh, who received it from his father. Luhloh gave some to Hebron University professor Dr. Khaled Hardan in 2005 for a Palestinian seed project, which in turn shared some with the US government. It's maintained now as part of the USDA’s National Plant Germplasm System at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa. Our friend and colleague Nate Kleinman of Experimental Farm Network requested and received the seeds, which he then sent to grower Jennifer Williams, who increased the seed in order to make it more widely available. This type of coriander is primarily grown for its seed, so it is a prolific seed producer, though the leaves ("cilantro") are also flavorful and delicious (for those who enjoy this controversial herb).

A lovely Palestinian chard with bright green leaves and thin white stems. These types are sometimes referred to as "cicla" varieties in English (from the Arabic word for chard, which is "silq"), or "spinach chard." While most chards have thick stems and are biennials, most "cicla" types are thin-stemmed and annuals. This makes them great for seed savers (annuals are much easier to steward than biennials). In certain climates and situations, these plants might produce seed their first summer but then still survive to produce more vegetative growth. This variety is beloved for its tender, mild-flavored leaves. It's great both raw or cooked, especially in lentil soup. Plants are vigorous and productive.

'Yakteen' is a beloved Palestinian heirloom gourd. It is eaten as a vegetable when small, dried to make bowls, jugs, or other instruments, and also used medicinally.

This gourd species is believed to have its roots in Africa, though on account of the dried fruit's ability to float the species can be found the world over — it even crossed the Atlantic thousands of years before the Vikings or the Spanish! It has broad, velvety leaves, fine night-blooming white flowers that resemble lace, and — in this variety at least — elongated teardrop-shaped fruits. When picked young (at 8 inches in length or so) the fruits can be used much as you might use a zucchini or cucumber, which means it's good raw, cooked, or pickled. One popular recipe is stuffed with lamb, rice, and mint.

Yakteen’s sprawling vines and abundant productivity mark it as a truly magical being. Much like other bottle-type gourd varieties, it grows best on a trellis, producing copious piles of gourds.

The medicinal uses of this species are myriad: They have been used to treat skin irritation, jaundice, diabetes, ulcers, fever, asthma and other bronchial disorders. The fruit is reportedly diuretic, tonic for the liver and brain, fever-reducing, aphrodisiac, purgative, and cooling. It’s also said to be an excellent remedy for heart problems, and urinary disorders. The juice is useful against constipation. It helps in losing weight because of its high dietary fiber and low fat and cholesterol content. Its seeds are vermifuge (meaning they can destroy or expel parasitic worms).