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Natural products from Pakistan
Some of Pakistan’s best-known exports are natural products: pink rock salt from the Khewra mine, apricots and cold-pressed apricot kernel oil from Hunza, and green kahwa tea from Peshawar.
They are sold abroad with plenty of exaggerated health claims. Our pages say plainly what each one is, where it really comes from and what it is good for, so you can buy it for the right reasons.
3 things
Rock salt from the Salt Range
The pink salt sold worldwide as “Himalayan” comes from one range of hills in Punjab.
Green tea with cardamom
Green tea with cardamom, poured in Peshawar’s Storytellers’ Bazaar.
Sun-dried apricots and apricot oil
Sun-dried on rooftops in the valley below Rakaposhi.
Guides
Gifts & guides
What to bring back from Pakistan, what to send to someone who misses it, and what to order if you have never been. Twenty-eight gifts, from a two-dollar box of spices to an heirloom quilt.
Food & drink
A spoonful of ruby-red syrup, a glass of cold water or milk, and the fast is broken. The story of Rooh Afza, why there are three of them, and how Pakistanis drink it.
Food & drink
No spices, no tea bags, no shortcuts: strong granular tea, whole milk and sugar, boiled until the colour is just right. Here is how Pakistanis make the tea they drink five times a day.
Food & drink
The pink salt in kitchens from Texas to Tokyo is dug out of one range of hills in Punjab. Here is the mine, the 600-million-year-old sea behind it, and what the label leaves out.
Questions
Not in any meaningful way. It contains trace minerals in tiny amounts and is still mostly sodium chloride. Buy it for its taste, look and origin.
Cold-pressed apricot kernel oil is used in Hunza for cooking and on skin and hair. Check whether a bottle is sold for cooking or cosmetic use.
Green tea brewed with crushed cardamom, served without milk after meals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
For makers in Pakistan
If you already sell abroad, on Etsy, Amazon, your own shop or Instagram, we would like to tell your story. Listing is free.
Newsletter
One story from Pakistan each month, with where to find the thing it is about.
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