The smell of frankincense – a hard-to-pin-down, piquant-woody aroma – wafts around the maze-like lanes of the centuries-old Muttrah Souk in Muscat. In every other store, terracotta pots are piled high with variations of the resin – from white pebble-like pieces to lilac and pink stones. Sellers, dressed in dishdashas, the long white robes worn by men, and colourful muzza turbans, call out as you pass, their hands running through the pieces, as if enticing you with gemstones.
Mohammed is 69-years-old and his family have been selling incense in the cobbled alleys for generations. “If you are looking for a true Omani delicacy, this is it,” he says. “Frankincense is something that is deeply tooted in our culture – we cook with it, we use it for remedies, we scent our homes with it – just like we have done for hundreds of years.”
