Beginning of November we headed North, not far from the Syrian border to the Pomegranate Valley, near a town called Kafr Sawm. It is the pomegranate Season in Jordan. The fruits collected a lot of sun over the summer and are now ready to be picked. Some of them will be eaten like this, many of them transformed into pomegranate syrup, which is a very popular ingredient in the Middle Eastern or Persian cuisine. You can find it in Fatoush, Kedba Djaj (Chicken Liver), other Salads or even mixed with Humus, and also in some main dishes such as Fesinjan. I really like using pomegranate syrup in cooking.
Hiking Wadi Al-Ruman
From the small town we walked a bit down into the valley and it didn’t take long until we saw the first fruits hanging from the trees. We continued North slowly through more or less private land of pomegranate farmers. Soon we saw two men working on processing the fruits to become pomegranate syrup. They cracked the skin, knocked with a stick on the halfs in order for the seeds to fall out. These were then collected in a bucket and later cooked for more than 6 hours to turn into thick molasses of pomegranate. This pure syrup without any sugar is one of the best.
We continued our walk through a seemingly endless valley of pomegranates. It was beautiful weather and I can only recommend this as a wonderful activity in the Autumn/Winter season. After about 2 hours, the scenery changed a bit and we walked on the street, while overlooking the trees. It was a very relaxed walk all in all and very nice to see the origin of the pomegranates. A little bit later we also saw many olive trees, who are also nearly ready to be harvested. During November the olives will be collected and then either pickled or brought to the press to be turned into olive oil. Look out for some local olive products at the annual olive festival starting today at King Hussein Park.
This time I went with Yousef and some friends. Check out this Facebook group for future trips. See below map for the location. If you enjoyed reading about Hiking Wadi Al-Ruman, you might be interested in other great activities to do in Jordan. See also my articles about 10 Things to do in the North of Jordan. Also make sure to read my other articles about Traveling Jordan.
This experience sounds fantastic; thanks for sharing that.
May I ask how I can organize a similar experience? Is there a local contact I can get in touch with?
I recommend TREKS. Check their website and get in contact with Fouad, Hana or Munter