Sweet sales soar ahead of Eid Al Fitr

AMMAN — As Eid Al Fitr approaches, sweets shops and bakery businesses’ sales are rising, according to President of the Jordan Association for Restaurants and Sweet Shops Owners Omar Awad.

“Eid Al Fitr has pushed the demand for traditional sweets, particularly maamoul (cookies filled with dates, pistachios or walnuts), which is associated with both eids,” Awad told The Jordan Times on Saturday, adding that the majority of maamoul purchases take place in the last few days of Ramadan.

The first day of eid, which is expected to be on Monday depending on the sighting of the moon of the new lunar month, usually sees high demand for restaurants and sweets shops, he noted.

“Chocolate sales are up by at least 40 per cent, and we are continuously receiving maamoul orders,” according to Anoud Khaled, owner of a sweets shop in Amman.

Khaled said that she also expects people to come on the first day of eid and buy sweets to gift family members and friends.

Omar Akram, an employee working at a shop specialised in oriental sweets, told The Jordan Times that people are mainly buying season-specific sweets like maamoul, kunafa and baklava.

“Maamoul is the special flavour of eid, and is one of the fundamental things to be bought, in order to truly celebrate eid,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Um Anwar, a Jordanian woman who has a home-based maamoul business, said that orders are increasing “by the hour”. She prepares maamoul with three fillings: dates, walnuts and pistachios.

“I am very happy that I am receiving more and more orders, because this means people like my baking,” she said.