Doha: Following the first thunderstorms in the region, people have set out to seek the treasured desert truffles locally called Fagga. For many in Omani Souq, the season brings lucrative business with the popular culinary delicacy sold for hundreds of riyals.
The vendors at Omani Souq are doing brisk business of the prized vegetable that is known for its nutritional and medicinal values.
Though fagga from Qatar is yet to arrive, the nationals and Arab residents are still queuing up to buy the item imported from other countries in the region.
“We have brown and white fagga here, both being sold at fast rate. The ones we have now are imported from Algeria,” one of the Fagga vendors at Omani Souq told The Peninsula.
Dessert truffles are highly sought after, and therefore they can be incredibly expensive. The appearance as wrinkled and gnarled potatoes, is however, deceptive-part of their aura.
“Fagga started arriving last week after the rains and on the first day we sold for QR1,200 per box. Now, the brown one is sold for QR450 for a box of one to two kilogrammes and the white one costs QR1,000 per box. Customers, mainly the Arabs, select fagga based on the appearance. The local products are more expensive and the best ones have been sold at rates of up to QR3,000 a kilogramme,” he said.
The white truffles belonging to the genus Tirmania, locally called Zubaidi are higher in demand, compared to the brown which are called Ikhlasi, belonging to the genus Terfezia. Truffles are found few inches below the ground near the roots of plants from which it takes nutrients. In Qatar, the favoured plant is the desert sunflower.
Qatar fagga more expensive: Traders
Fagga is widely believed to be created by the lightning from November thunderstorms in the desert. One has to have eyes like a hawk to spot it in desert and dig out as much of the truffle as possible. Researches are still on-going to produce fagga on a larger commercial scale.
Fagga has a long history of use for food and medicine in Qatar and in the neighbouring states too. It is used in local traditional medicine for treating eye, back, knee or leg ailments and is also known for its qualities as an aphrodisiac.
“The Qatari products are expected by the end of the month or in March. They are rather expensive. Last year, we had sold Qatar fagga for QR1,500 to QR2,000 per kilo. The local produces are obtained mainly in the deserts in the north. Many of our customers come a couple of times each week as it is available mostly in January, February and March,” another seller said.
Truffles go by different names in different places, as terfezia in Morocco and terfaz in Egypt. The Kuwaitis call them fagga, in Oman as either faqah or zubaydi, in the UAE fagaa and in Iraq, Syria and KSA as kamaa.
Fagga is eaten and cooked in many ways like raw in salads, boiled in milk, sautéed in butter, roasted in campfires, or as stuffing or stew.
