- Title: Dive into the making of hemp products in Lebanon
- Date: 11th July 2023
- Summary: YAMMOUNEH, LEBANON (JULY 4, 2023) (REUTERS) (PART MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE SHOTS SHOWING A FIELD OF CANNABIS PLANTS (MUTE) VARIOUS OF CANNABIS PLANTS BODAI, LEBANON (JULY 4, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE PRODUCER OF HEMP PRODUCTS, HAMZA SHAMAS SAYING: “In the Lebanese law, in farming, if you grow the plant [of cannabis], if you plant it then you are (doing something) not legal according to the Lebanese law. Now, what are we doing? We are collecting the stalks that are being burned so I am not practically farming, I am collecting the stalks so they are not burned. And hemp seeds are, in general, bird food and it is available on the market so I am also not farming in this case. So everything I am working with is legal.†(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE PRODUCER OF HEMP PRODUCTS, HAMZA SHAMAS SAYING: "From one plant, you are making fabric, building material, paper, and food. Those are the things that we have worked on. So this is the biggest excuse that no... My work is legal, it has no narcotic substances, regardless of the controversy around narcotics - which anyway, in countries abroad, are being discovered to be medications." SHAMAS CARRYING HEMP STALKS, WORKING AND SAYING (Arabic): “These are the stalks of the hemp plant. Farmers usually burn them when they cut them, so we collect them. Over around three years, we gathered a big stock. We soak these stalks in water for three days.†SHAMAS POURING WATER ON THE STALKS VARIOUS OF HAMZA PEELING FIBRE FROM HEMP STALKS / SHAMAS SAYING (Arabic): “Water immediately helps, this is usually dry.†SHAMAS BREAKING STALKS AND SAYING (Arabic): “We then break these to be used for building materials. We make stone out of it." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CUTTING DRIED FIBRE SHAMAS SHOWING CUT DRIED FIBRE AND SAYING (Arabic): “These mixed with water, in the blender, become the paste of paper.†SISTER OF SHAMAS, SOUMAYA SHAMAS, POURING THE MIX IN THE WATER SOUMAYA MIXING THE MIX IN WATER VARIOUS OF MAN PLACING PAPER FRAME IN THE WATER AND LIFTING IT UP SHAMAS PLACING THE PAPER FRAME ON A SHEET TO TAKE OUT THE WET PAPER SHAMAS TAKING OUT A SHEET WITH PAPER PLACED ON IT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) COUSIN OF HAMZA SHAMAS, RANEEN SHAMAS, SAYING: (RANEEN SPEAKING WHILE STANDING NEXT TO SISTER OF HAMZA, SOUMAYA SHAMAS) "Everything was originally experimental until we reached here. We failed a thousand times until we reached the right mixtures of everything until we started doing primitive things with which we can somehow sustain ourselves now, mostly because all the products are mainly from home." MAN STRAINING SOIL VARIOUS OF HEMP STALKS BEING MIXED WITH SOIL MAN PLACING MIX INTO A MOULD RANEEN HOLDING A MOULD AND SAYING (Arabic): “We wait on them for around two hours until they completely dry. Then we flip it, it would have dried, and we would have a stone.†SHAMAS OPENING A BAG FULL OF HEMP SEEDS AND SHOWING THEM IN HIS HAND SHAMAS TAKING HEMP SEEDS IN HIS HANDS AND SAYING (Arabic): “We collect the seeds, we buy them from the farmers so we can then transform them. These will be washed, sterilized and peeled to reveal their white hearts so we can use them in food, oil and everything we are working on." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE PRODUCER OF HEMP PRODUCTS, HAMZA SHAMAS SAYING: “We take them (hemp seeds) to the big sifter, we strain them and remove all the impurities of the plant. We then wash them, sterilize them and move them to the kitchen space in Beirut to start making milk from them, cookies and experiment with what (other) food items we can do from them." MKALLES, LEBANON (JULY 5, 2023) (REUTERS) HEMP SEEDS BEING POURED INTO A MACHINE COUSIN OF HAMZA SHAMAS, HASSAN MOARAD, OPERATING MACHINE SHELLED HEMP COMING OUT OF THE MACHINE VARIOUS OF MOARAD STRAINING SHELLED HEMP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE PRODUCER OF HEMP PRODUCTS, HAMZA SHAMAS SAYING: “There are multiple uses for this (hemp) plant - one of them is milk, which I started making for personal use in 2012. Then I started telling people that there is milk made out of hemp seeds, but it still had a stereotype that it makes people high or have narcotic substances so it (hemp milk) stayed for personal use until 2015 when someone told me it is being made in the United States and sold in supermarkets. This provoked me and I started thinking why not making it (here)." MOARAD PUTTING SHELLED HEMP IN BLENDER MOARAD ADDING WATER TO BLENDER MOARAD POURING MILK IN CLOTH VARIOUS OF MOARAD SQUEEZING MILK OUT OF CLOTH INTO A STRAINER VARIOUS OF MOARAD POURING MILK INTO BOTTLE LABELED (Arabic): "LABAN AL-ASFOUR" (Arabic for "MILK OF THE BIRD") (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE PRODUCER OF HEMP PRODUCTS, HAMZA SHAMAS SAYING: “The reaction of people was very encouraging. First of all, its flavour (referring to the flavour of hemp milk) is very tasty and it is a superfood. It is as if it has a pharmacy in it, for how much health benefits it has from the seeds. So when people got to know its nutritious value, they were more encouraged to buy from me. I started doing fresh (milk) and they started buying. I would some 20 bottles and sell 18 of them. People were eager for an alternative, and this alternative is from here, we have the seeds here, we are not importing anything from abroad." HEMP SEEDS BEING POURED INTO MACHINE VARIOUS OF MACHINE EXTRACTING OIL MOARAD POURING HEMP OIL IN A BOTTLE MOARAD AND SHAMAS WORKING IN A WORKSHOP, PREPARING HEMP PRODUCTS VARIOUS OF SHAMAS PREPARING COOKIES OUT OF HEMP SEEDS, OATS AND PEANUT BUTTER YAMMOUNEH, LEBANON (JULY 4, 2023) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE SHOTS SHOWING CANNABIS FIELDS IN AGRICULTURE AREA
- Embargoed: 25th July 2023 13:20
- Keywords: Lebanon cannabis cookies hemp hemp products milk oil paper stone
- Location: YAMMOUNEH, BODAI AND MKALLES, LEBANON
- City: YAMMOUNEH, BODAI AND MKALLES, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Middle East,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001535307072023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Challenging stereotypes often associated with cannabis in Lebanon, Hamza Shamas produces a range of hemp products including food items and building materials from farmers' leftovers of the plant.
Although growing the plant is illegal in Lebanon, cannabis has long been farmed openly in the fertile Bekaa Valley. The Lebanese parliament in 2020 legalized cannabis farming for medicinal use.
Shamas said he uses hemp stalks that "farmers usually burn" and hemp seeds in the making of milk, oil, cookies, stone, and paper.
The entrepreneur has been drinking hemp milk since 2012. Years later, after extensive research and taking inspiration from the various uses of hemp around the world, he started developing this and other products into a business in 2018.
He mostly sells his items among his circle but is working with potential investors to expand the business, in the hopes of distributing to the local market.
Shamas said his best-selling products are milk, cookies, and oil; and he is still perfecting the recipes of the other items.
He called the hemp milk he produces "Laban al-Asfour", literally meaning "Milk of the Bird" in Arabic, but also alluding to a phrase that is usually used in Lebanon in reference to making the impossible possible.
(Production: Emilie Madi, Issam Abdallah, Rajaa Bint Talal, Yara Abi Nader) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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