Frankincense

   Cleaning out some cupboard this afternoon I came across this jar of Frankincense, an impulse buy the last time we were in Dubai. 

   Frankincense is the dried sap of trees in the Boswellia genus. There are about 50 species of these trees. Many of them grow in the Horn of Africa; one species grows in the Middle East, and another in India. When dried, the sap is burned as incense and thought to have several medicinal properties.

To gather frankincense, producers puncture the tree using a traditional chisel-like tool, after which a milky white sap leeches out of the hole, forming "tears." This tapping process is repeated multiple times at several points throughout the year, depending on the region. After the stone like gobs are gathered, they are put out to dry.