Chocolate made from camel's milk - it may sound unusual at first, but it actually exists. Al Nassma is the world's first camel milk chocolate. The idea came from Martin van Almsick - a German who used to work at the Cologne Chocolate Museum. It took four years to develop the concept and recipe before the company was finally founded in Dubai in 2008. In October 2023, the company celebrated its 15th anniversary.
To mark their 15th anniversary, Martin van Almsick and his wife Hanan from Al Nassma Chocolate invited customers, business partners, employees and friends to an anniversary celebration at the factory in Um Al Qwain. They came from all over the world and from the various stages in the fifteen-year history of Al Nassma Chocolate. But where does the company with the extraordinary milk actually come from and how is it produced?
Camel milk has been used as a food source in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa for centuries. Bedouins and nomads - i.e. non-sedentary desert dwellers - still use camel milk as a reliable source of food. During the harsh desert climate, generations of tribes lived exclusively on dates and camel milk for months at a time due to its nutritious nature. Al Nassma uses the high-quality camel milk as the basis for the finest chocolate.
The idea came to Martin van Almsick from Cologne while watching TV with his wife Hanan Ahmed. In a program, a vet spoke about the predominantly healthy aspects of camel milk. Almsick and his wife took this as an opportunity to ask themselves why there was still no camel milk chocolate. The idea was born in 2004 and four years later - after countless concept and recipe drafts - the first camel milk chocolate was produced. In the meantime, however, Almsick was no longer working alone on his project, but teamed up with others. Almsick teamed up with Patrick Dorais, a French-Canadian who had learned about the industry at Nestlé in Geneva, and Johann Georg Hochleitner from Salzburg, who had already produced chocolate with sheep's, goat's and buffalo's milk in Austria. The Viennese waffle maker Manner also took over a large part of the chocolate production process.
The Al Nassma company is based in Dubai - three thousand camels live there on a modern farm under optimal conditions. There is no separation of dam and foal during milk production. A camel produces between six and eight liters of milk a day. One kilogram of camel milk powder is produced from every ten liters of camel milk. In order to meet hygiene standards and eliminate germs, the milk is transported underground and turned into milk powder by freeze-drying. This is then sent to the Manner wafer factory in Vienna to be processed into chocolate mass.
As already mentioned, Martin van Almsick from Cologne had his roots in the Chocolate Museum and there is still an indication of camel milk chocolate in our museum today. A camel figurine - representing Al Nassma - is produced in our hollow figurine studio and displayed for visitors to draw attention to the uniqueness of camel milk chocolate. But what is actually so special about this chocolate?
Unlike conventional milk, camel milk is very well tolerated by people with lactose intolerance due to its low lactose content. Due to its special protein structure, it is also suitable for people with milk allergies. Even the protein structure of camel's milk is very similar to breast milk and on the health scale they are also on the same level. It also has a reputation for having great healing powers. It is healthy and nutritious - but does this special milk taste good?
Camel milk tastes salty and slightly mineral. It also has a very low fat content, which makes the consistency very soft and milky. The chocolate contains almost no sugar, but is very rich in calcium and vitamins, especially vitamin C. It is also said to have a probiotic effect. The taste is persistent and can be tasted particularly in the back of the palate. What sets Al Nassma camel milk chocolate apart from other chocolates is its exotic and unusual taste. Healthy, delicious and healing - so I hear nothing but benefits and I'm excited to try it out for myself! What about you?
