Innovative products made of dates draw visitors at exhibition

Dates energy bars displayed at the dates exhibition organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources at Oman Avenues Mall drew the attention of most of the visitors on Tuesday. The exhibition will continue till October 31.

The energy bar is the brainchild of Abdullah bin Saif al Jabri, founder of Thamar, a food innovation company.

“Our factory produces two products and one of them is dates with a combination of oats and peanut butter. It is vegan, with no preservatives, no added sugar, and it is cholesterol-free. The product is a high protein diet, and we use the best quality peanuts. We add a bit of sea salt for the sake of international taste. Our Omani flavour is in other products as it has dates with roasted sesame and coconut with oats. This, of course, is a flavour much enjoyed by people in Asia, Middle East and North Africa. The sesame gives the distinct flavour of Tahini.”

Abdullah’s team has begun with two products because some people have sensitivity with peanuts, so they have other option. “We will have different flavours soon,” he said, adding he cannot wait to reach out to other markets.

Another exhibitor, Atheela Ahmed, meanwhile buys dates from the government outlets, works from home and produces different products such as date sweets.

She called the exhibition an opportunity for her and other small and medium entrepreneurs. “It is very nice and we really need these opportunities,” she said.

“My production comes under home business, so I also mostly sell through Instagram and WhatsApp,” she pointed out.

Her products have other ingredients such as roses, pistachios and other flavours.

“Mostly, I create gift packs, and this also has an objective to encourage children to have the nutritious dates to create attractive gifts such as bags to pack the date products,” Atheela pointed out.

They could take date fruit products to school as snacks.

Majid bin Abdullah al Jaffery from Bahla chose to display his products at a corner with three fountains of Tahina.

“The first is natural Tahina, then we have Tahina with pistachio, and the third one is Tahina with peanuts. Tahina is very popular while consuming dates. It balances the sugar. Eating dates with Tahina is a popular practice in Oman. It is all natural and zero cholesterol,” Majid explained.