Alkanet root: This black root with a flaky paper-like covering gives the blue-purple coloring in our Anisette soap.

   Almonds, sweet: Urozgan Province, directly north of Kandahar, is particularly renowned for its almonds. Still scarcely served by a paved road, Urozgan remains one of the most isolated, poverty-stricken, and dangerous of Afghan regions. Arghand works with a village elder named Habibullah ("Beloved of God") for its supply of sweet almonds.

    Almonds, wild: In clefts in the cragged rocks north of Kandahar, the gnarled branches of a few stubborn trees can be seen clinging. They are wild almonds. Nomadic pastoralists called Kuchis gather their kernels as they traverse the area with their flocks. Arghand women patiently crack the tiny nuts and their emollient oil is featured in our Amandine and Elixir of Artemis soaps. We work with a keeper of the shrine in the village of Khakrez for our wild almonds.

    Anise: This aromatic herb is grown in small quantities on farms throughout the region. We work with growers in Khakrez for our supply of anise seed, used in the Anisette soap.

    Apricot kernels: Though apricots are not a mainstay of local agriculture, at least four different varieties are present in the Kandahar region. Every Arghandab orchard includes five or ten trees scattered among the pomegranates, for offering fruit to guests. Arghand works with an Arghandab village elder named Abd al-Manan for apricots. We spend the month of June making apricot jam for the local market, and set aside the kernels for our Amandine soap.

    Artemisia (persica and cina): Kandahar area elders boast that every wild plant up in their mountains has medicinal value. One of the most famous is Artemisia, a relative of sage and absinthe. Arghand uses two different species of Artemisia in our Desert Fields and Elixir of Artemis products.

    Black cumin: This particularly potent variety of cumin is grown predominantly in the village of Khakrez. The plants are perennial, nourished by a hard ball of root, each tiny cumin seed clasped at the end of a spindly branch. Arghand's cumin comes from the lands of its director, Shafiullah Afghan.

    Castor beans: The trees grow plentifully around Kandahar. Periodically, Nurallah and Abd al-Ahad take the truck out and cut the ripened seedpods - making up some story to tell the municipal gardeners. Castor oil helps give Arghand soap its dense, fluffy lather.

    Licorice root: Grows wild in the gardens and orchards arond Kandahar. Arghand will be working with local farmers to encourage the cultivation of licorice root, which, apart from Arghand's needs, enjoys an important international demand for its culinary and medicinal properties. Licorice root gives the golden-yellow color and some of the aroma to Arghand's Anisette soap.

    Madder root: These slender roots give the dye that used to be called Turkish Red. It is used in Afghan carpets, and in Arghand's Pomegranate and Kandahar Rose soaps.

  Pomegranate seeds: It is difficult to miss the flood of recent scientific findings regarding the health virtues of pomegranate.  Quite apart from the fruit's antioxidant cancer-fighting properties, a 2006 University of Michigan Medical School study has demonstrated that the oil of the pomegranate seed, applied to skin cells, causes them to regenerate and thicken. No wonder the growers of Arghandab district are famous for their smooth and supple skin. Indeed, given their role in mythology and local lore, it should come as little surprise that pomegranates prove to posess medicinal value.

 

Some say the forbidden fruit that Eve tasted in the Garden of Eden was no apple, but a pomegranate. The Greek goddess Persephone, who could not resist a few seeds during her captivity in Hades, brought winter on us all. An 11th century Persian poet wrote of pomegranates, splitting open under the autumn sun to reveal their precious cargo of jewel-like seeds:

         [In the orchards]
         Pomegranates, like innocents,
         Expose the secrets of their hearts
         To the whole universe.

 

From these split fruits, bursting with ruby seeds, Arghand members painstakingly extract and clean the hard white kernel, from which they obtain a lucious golden oil that is the key ingredient in Arghand soaps.

    Rosa damascena: This is the variety of rose used in the highest-grade rose oil, a staple ingredient of fine perfume. Indigenous to Kandahar, it is called Kandahar Rose. So ancient is the art of distilling the essence of this rose, that the very word for rose in Pashtu, the language of southern Afghanistan, is "gul gulab", or flower-water flower. But the wars practically killed off this tradition, and Kandahar rose bushes have grown scarce in the countryside. Arghand has contracted with farmers in Arghandab, Dund, and Zhari districts to plant 1000 square meters of roses. We will be showing them and other producers how to pluck the blossoms the morning they open, leaving stem and leaves behind. And we distill the roses with a modern food-grade stainless steel still, so as to separate the essential oil from the high-quality rose water.

    Salvia Spinosa: A member of the incredibly diverse Salvia genus, which includes sage and mint, Salvia spinosa grows wild in upland wheat fields north of Kandahar. Its perfume is a heady concotion of banana and lime. Arghand has contracted with a Khakrez farmer to cultivate this blossom, which heretofore had no market.

    Wild pistachio (Pistacia khinjuk): These peacock-blue, pea-sized nuts are crunched, thin shell and all, as snacks during the late fall in Kandahar. Their pungent, evergreen flavor and unctuous oil are key to Arghand's Desert Fields products.