People buying vegan cake, juice and Ice cream made with organic dates at a stall at the second Local Dates Festival 2017 at Souq Waqif yesterday. (Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula)
The ongoing second Local Dates Festival at Souq Waqif is a bustling market which offers a feast of wide variety of fresh dates, but there is one Qatari company which stands out offering locally made date food products to visitors.
While hundreds of people throng the 57 stalls selling fresh dates, Memo’s Factory’s stall is witnessing many customers who wish to quench their thirst by sampling its signature fresh ripe date slush, among its other food products made from local dates. It is the only stall at the festival which offers food products made from dates.
“It’s been very busy. Many people buy slush. This is not a new product but we are the only company offering this,” Hanaa Benzarmid, store manager at Memo’s Factory, told The Peninsula.
Perfect for the summer season, the date slush comes in two types: the fresh ripe date slush made of milk, nuts and fresh dates and the plain date slush with laban.
The dates slush comes during the dates season when there is abundance of fresh dates which are the main ingredient, but the company also produces other products available year-round, said Benzarmid.
“We also have date tart, date mamoul, cookies and sticky puddings, all made of dates, without preservatives and artificial flavours. The owner of the company came up with the idea of creating food products with a desire to use Qatari products combined with international concept.”
Established in 2009, the Qatari company has won a number of awards including the first Entrepreneur Award in 2012 and Best Small Business in GCC. Apart from date products, the company also offers other products such as various types of cookies and pastries, and ice cream.
“We are the only shop that serves a type of low-fat ice cream, which is very famous in Qatar,” she added.
