Camelicious is getting ready to launch its latest product - cheese made from camel's milk, which are less fatty than many of their rivals.
Camelicious is getting ready to launch its latest product - cheese made from camel's milk, which are less fatty than many of their rivals.
Camelicious is getting ready to launch its latest product - cheese made from camel's milk, which are less fatty than many of their rivals.
Camelicious is getting ready to launch its latest product - cheese made from camel's milk, which are less fatty than many of their rivals.

UAE's first camel cheese to hit supermarket shelves


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DUBAI // The UAE's first commercial batch of camel-milk cheese is expected to hit supermarket shelves as early as next week.

After a year of test production, White Gold cheese will be sold in supermarkets including Geant, Hyper Panda, Abu Dhabi Co-operative, Union Co-operative and Sharjah Co-operative in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

"Finding the right design and packaging took time," said Muhammad Ashraf, assistant sales manager at Camelicious, which makes the cheese.

There are three varieties: Nabulsi, with small black caraway seeds; Akkawi, a soft, unripened white cheese with a smooth texture and a mild salty taste; and traditional white cheese, which resembles cottage cheese and has a mild to sharp taste. The latter is cured and stored in its own salty whey or water brine.

"It is processed in many degrees of firmness, ranging from soft and crumbly to fairly hard," said Benjamin Gnanaraj, quality controller at Camelicious.

All three types are intended for use in salads, sandwiches and cooking. The cheese, which has a two-week shelf life, has a fat content of nine grams per 100g - far lower than many other cheeses, which typically contain between 25g and 35g of fat per 100g.

About 10 per cent of the 5,000 to 6,000 litres of milk produced each day by the farm's 3,000 camels is being used for cheese.

"Every day we produce 30 to 40 kilograms of cheese," Mr Ashraf said. "Some of it goes to taste trials, some to royal palaces and some to hotels and cafes for chefs to sample it in recipes and learn how to use it, because they're not used to this kind of cheese."

Because camel milk contains less than 10 per cent of solids, its yield of cheese is low. "From 12 litres of milk, we can produce one kilogram of cheese," he said. "The fat content is very low and that's what is used to make the cheese."

The low yield makes the cheese expensive, costing from Dh39 for a 200g, tent-shaped pack.

Since last week the cheese has been available at Camelicious's Majlis Cafe in the Dubai Mall. It is expected to be on sale in supermarkets within the next 10 days.

The company is also preparing to export the cheese. "The demand from GCC countries is high," Mr Ashraf said. "People are becoming more aware of its health benefits, so we're now working on the export packaging."

The farm is in the process of increasing its herd. Every month, it receives at least 200 camels from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Oman and the UAE.

"Increasing milk production is not that easy because we're playing with nature," he said. "Some camels can give 20 litres a day but others only two."

The average is about seven litres, up from five just a few years ago.

"It will take us time but we aim to reach 12 litres," Mr Ashraf said. "But it will be highly beneficial for people who can't consume cow's milk."

Camelicious also plans on producing labneh, a soft cheese made from dried yogurt, white butter, ghee and other types of cheese using camel milk in the future.

The biog

First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974  
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work

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Ready Player One
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES

UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)

  • Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs 
  • Thursday 20 January: v England 
  • Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh 

UAE squad:

Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith  

RESULTS

Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Azizbek Satibaldiev (KYG). Round 1 KO

Featherweight: Izzeddin Farhan (JOR) beat Ozodbek Azimov (UZB). Round 1 rear naked choke

Middleweight: Zaakir Badat (RSA) beat Ercin Sirin (TUR). Round 1 triangle choke

Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO

Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision

Catchweight 74kg: Mirafzal Akhtamov (UZB) beat Marcos Costa (BRA). Split decision

Welterweight: Andre Fialho (POR) beat Sang Hoon-yu (KOR). Round 1 TKO

Lightweight: John Mitchell (IRE) beat Arbi Emiev (RUS). Round 2 RSC (deep cuts)

Middleweight: Gianni Melillo (ITA) beat Mohammed Karaki (LEB)

Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira (BRA) beat Amiran Gogoladze (GEO). Unanimous decision

Flyweight (Female): Carolina Jimenez (VEN) beat Lucrezia Ria (ITA), Round 1 rear naked choke

Welterweight: Daniel Skibinski (POL) beat Acoidan Duque (ESP). Round 3 TKO

Lightweight: Martun Mezhlumyan (ARM) beat Attila Korkmaz (TUR). Unanimous decision

Bantamweight: Ray Borg (USA) beat Jesse Arnett (CAN). Unanimous decision

if you go

The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow. 
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes). 

Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

Scoreline

Australia 2-1 Thailand

Australia: Juric 69', Leckie 86'
Thailand: Pokklaw 82'

TICKETS

For tickets for the two-day Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event, entitled Dubai Invasion 2019, on September 27 and 28 go to www.meraticket.com.