The Terroir of Tolga

“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Tolga Oasis

Here we have arrived in Algeria in the beneficial oasis of Tolga placed like a diamond on a peaceful land, letting ourselves be lulled by the vital breath of a micro climate ideal for growing dates. Tolga is like an island that the traveler is always happy to reach. Island which blends into the evening light, melting into sublime dawns illuminated by warm suns, and which suddenly disappears, drowned, swallowed, snatched up by a vanishing horizon. Island that sails by letting itself be carried away without ever resisting. An island surrounded by mysteries that fade and remain to be discovered. The oasis of Tolga, at the gates of southern Algeria, is a haven of peace in which nature knows how to be generous to those who respect it.

Ancestral Art

It is no coincidence that the Tolga date was born in Algeria because Tolga, in Arabic طولڨة and in Berber ⵜⴰⵍⴳⴰ, has a secret that its inhabitants carefully preserve and which they know how to cultivate like no other thanks to a particular microclimate and a land rich in a long history and ancestral culture. In Tolga, men talk to the trees, to the date palms whose deep roots drink from the source of life while soaking up the sun. This source nourishes a living memory that men transmit to each other like light. Tolga is a corner of paradise at the gates of the Algerian Sahara where deglet Nour, this tasty date, is offered as a promise. The Deglet Nour, in Arabic: دڨلة نور, in Berber: ⴷⴳⵍⵜ ⵏⵓⵕ means finger of light because it transparently reveals its ancestral soul. It is indeed a question of light when we taste this fruit which carries sublime flavors within it.

Symbol of Tradition

Soft, extra-soft, honeyed, fleshy, generous, it is adorned with very fine, clear, golden and translucent skin which takes us into the core of its heart. Thanks to the knowledge of men, the fragile-looking Deglet Nour of Tolga has always been able to resist the vagaries of time. Nour in Arabic means light which illuminates the night and which guides the steps of men. It is also sunlight contained in a fruit with an inimitable taste. It took time, work, love to cultivate a fruit which, as soon as we tasted it, leaves us with a scent of eternal happiness. Deglet Nour is a legend; it is the symbol of a terroir, of an art of living, of a state of mind, it is food, a pleasure, a reward that you must however know how to deserve. Deglet Nour is offered to our senses in different forms. It's up to you to choose yours.
 
 

Aziz Fares

Writer