By Donna Howarth | @cleaneatuae
I guess one can assume and presume what an organic farmer looks like. When I first met Mo (Owner of YAS Farms) he blew all my preconceptions out of the water. Before me stood a very tall, thickly set man offering his rather large hand to shake mine. I smiled inside as I quickly erased the image of “my organic farmer” from my mind.
Mo and I decided to meet after a brief conversation on my CleanEatUAE Facebook page as a few of my followers had contacted me, wanting to know more and I, myself, was intrigued by the farm and was keen to discover what the Farm could offer.
Over the past two years, YAS Farms has grown at an alarming rate, which saw them, initially, struggle with delivery as they attempted to satisfy the constantly increasing daily orders. Mo is quick to admit that he let a few customers down which really concerned him, and acknowledged new systems are now in place to stop the same issues arising again. He is a friendly man and quite happy to roll his sleeves up and help the business with deliveries. Word of advice, if he delivers your box, make sure you give this man plenty of time – he likes to talk about the farm, a lot – which is actually, very interesting!
Recently, I was lucky enough to sample one of these delightful boxes and the smell alone was amazing – fresh is all I will say. The majority of the produce is grown on the farm with a few organic produce brought from overseas (which Mo is happy to inform the customer of). The tomatoes are amazing, the cucumbers delicious, pineapples and melon – delightfully sweet. The eggs are fresh with a plump orange yolk (not like the pale egg yolks that you find with battery farm eggs). My 10-year-old son has several eggs a day and he gave his omelette a huge “thumbs up”. I also sampled the chicken, as my first experience with a UAE reared chicken was a disaster. I cooked the bird the same way you would a Western chicken -roasted. Absolute fail – Mo explained that although they are both chickens a UAE chicken and a Western Chicken cannot be cooked in the same way. UAE chicken live in a harsher climate, which affects the meat, therefore, the chicken has to be parboiled and then roasted, or boiled for the full duration of the cooking time (which is how I cooked my next chicken). My second experience was much better following Mo’s tips and I am looking forward to trying one of the farm’s turkeys.
As a CleanEater, what can YAS Farm’s offer me? They offer fresh, organic, free range poultry (chicken, turkey, duck etc) along with free range eggs and organic milk. Mo has a large variety of locally grown organic fruit and vegetables that can be delivered fresh to your door on a weekly basis. All produce arrives at your door in brown boxes to keep packaging costs low and easy on the environment too. All storage and cooking instructions are detailed on labels attached to the boxes. Deliveries are 2-3 times a week so you need not worry about having a lack of fresh produce in your fridge.
Prices are very reasonable, for example a 7kg fruit and veggie box is Dh120, all milk is Dh45 per litre (goat’s milk is Dh55). Poultry ranges from Dh45 to Dh250 for a 4kg turkey. There is a minimum charge of Dh200, which gives you free delivery to Abu Dhabi.
See YAS Farm’s Organic Produce Facebook page. (Prices quoted in this article are subject to change).
