Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh -- Part 1

Clockwise from the right: frankincense. myrrh, shilajit and arabian gum

This must have been the first thing I was taught in bible lessons: the birth of Jesus and the three kings came bearing the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (The church has been modifying the way they called things ever since I was a child, e.g. Mother became Sister; Father became Brother; and the Three Kings became the Three Wise Men/Magi/Sage, etc.  So I would stick with the earliest version I was shown to cause less confusion to myself.)

Apart from gold, I've never seen what frankincense and myrrh were like, they were only words to me in those days.  So when I came to Arabia, the first thing I wanted to find out about was frankincense and myrrh.

Traditional shape incense burner

My limited knowledge about frankincense and myrrh was that they are a kind of incense, something to be burnt for its aroma.  When I first saw them here, they looked like crystals or rocks, hard in texture to me.  So it was a pleasant surprise when a shopkeeper presented me with the edible grade of frankincense.  I was thrilled!  A newfound piece of knowledge (to me)  -- they are resins!  A lot of the exotic crystal-like substances here are actually resins, such as gum arabic, shilajit and oud (oud is actually wood with resin inside).  Some of them are called gum because the locals would actually chew them for breath-cleansing.  (Fresh breath is very important to Muslims.  I first saw the special/ancient toothbrush in Bulgaria called miswak/sewak which Muslims use to brush their teeth before praying; this would bring them 7 times more merit for their prayers)

Miswak/Sewak

Frankincense, which the locals call "luban/looban", is whitish in colour and comes from the trees of the Bosweillia genus. The best luban is supposed to come from the Bosweilia Sacra trees in the Salalah region in Dhofar, south of Oman.  Yemeni luban has its own fan base too; luban from the legendary Socotra island reigns supreme.  We didn’t have any luck getting Socotra luban.  However, when we did a taste test between Omani luban and average Yemeni luban, we voted for the former.  Note that only luban of the highest quality from Oman and Yemen is edible while the luban from Somalia is bitter and only good for burning.  

The belief behind using resins as medicine is that when an incision was made to the tree bark, the tree would bleed sap out which would seal the wound and heal the cut; similar to the function of platelets in our blood.  Unlike olive oil, in which the first press is most valued, the sap from the first cut of the Bosweillia tree is discarded.  The harvester will let the sap dry up and then cut the tree again.  From the third cut comes "hojari", the best quality Omani luban can be found in the market. The even rarer type would be green luban called "Royal hojari", fit for a sultan!

The quality of luban from Oman is so highly regarded that the Sultan ordered his prince to start the royal perfumery brand, Amouage; creating perfume using famous ingredients such as luban and oud.  (Interestingly, the new CEO of Amouage brought in an American Hong Kong immigrant with zero experience in the perfume industry to be their creative director and it seems to be working well so far!)

All frankincense in the front row

Ok, back to Myrrh.  Native to Egypt, best for the throat, myrrh can be found in this region too.  Again, Oman has it all.  A lot of shops display their luban in heaps but myrrh, a coffee-brown resin, is always packed away in small containers behind the counter despite it's only slightly more expensive.  I wonder if the profit margin of luban is actually a lot higher than that of myrrh or just not that many people would buy it?

Another way of taking resin is to melt it in the water and drink it

Most of these resins are good for the digestive system and wounds, so I was told; with the exception of Arabian gum which is good for detoxing, especially the kidneys.

The other one is shilajit. When I asked a shopkeeper, who didn't speak much English, what was shilajit good for; he kept pointing to his chest.  So I thought he meant the heart.  When I found another "herbal" shop, I asked again. This time, the shopkeeper who spoke a bit more English told me that it's for women who need to produce more milk for their babies!!! Oh well, nothing to do with me then.