In every Levantine kitchen there is a tin.
Not a bottle. A tin. Five litres, usually. Tucked into the cool corner of a pantry, or sitting on a low shelf next to the rice and the lentils. Refilled once a year, after the harvest. Used for everything. Refilled again.
The tin is not decoration. It is a culture.
What the tin actually means
In Arabic, the word for hospitality; كرم, karam, shares a root with the word for vine and generosity. The whole moral architecture of a Levantine home is built on the idea that you must always have enough to share, and slightly more than you need, in case someone arrives.
Olive oil is the most generous thing in the house. It goes into everything. It is poured without measuring. It is poured a second time, after the first guest finishes their plate. It is poured for the neighbours’ children. It is poured for the children who come to the door at Eid. The 5L tin is what makes that pouring possible without thinking, without rationing, without ever having to apologise for finishing the bottle.
This is the Levantine philosophy of abundance. You buy in volume so that you can give in volume.
Why Maknoon made one
For five years, we sold our oil in beautiful bottles. They sit on counters, they make good gifts, they look at home next to a copper pot. We are proud of them.
But we kept hearing the same thing from our most devoted customers: I go through this too fast. I am embarrassed to keep ordering. Is there a bigger one?
There was a bigger one; at home, in our parents’ pantries, in every village house from Tripoli to Bethlehem. We had simply forgotten to bring it with us when we built the brand.
So we made the tin. Five litres of the same Maknoon Classic, in the same food-grade, light-blocking container that the farmers in South Lebanon and the Jordan Valley have used for generations. It is the most honest piece of packaging we have ever made.
How to store the tin at home
Olive oil has three enemies: light, heat, and air. The tin handles two of them for you. Your job is the third.
Keep the tin in a cool, dark cupboard. Not next to the stove. Not on a sunny counter. Not in the fridge, cold thickens the oil and dulls the flavour.
Decant a small bottle from the tin once a week. Use the small bottle for daily cooking. Refill it when it runs low. This way the main tin stays mostly sealed, and the oil you are pouring is always fresh.
A 5L tin of Maknoon, stored properly, will hold its character for twelve to fifteen months. Most households finish it in six.
Recipes that require abundance
Some dishes only work when you stop being careful with the oil. Here are four of them.
Musakhan, the way it is supposed to be
The Palestinian national dish. Caramelised onions, sumac, taboon bread, roast chicken. The recipe traditionally calls for so much olive oil that the onions are essentially confit. Skimping is the most common mistake home cooks make. Pour like you mean it. The onions will drink the oil, and the dish will be transformed.
Ice Cream With Olive Oil and Dates, the patient way
Stuffed grape leaves, courgettes, peppers; whichever vegetable is in season. Layer them tight in a heavy pot. Add water and lemon. Pour olive oil over the top until it pools. Cook on the lowest possible heat for two hours. The oil insulates the vegetables, infuses the rice, and is the entire reason this dish has survived three thousand years.
Hummus that holds a spoon
Make the hummus. Spread it on a plate. Make a deep well in the centre. Pour olive oil into the well until it almost overflows. Sprinkle with paprika or za’atar. The hummus should look like it is floating in oil. If you are nervous about the amount, you have not added enough.
The tin as a gesture
In the Levant, gifting a 5L tin is a serious gesture. It is what you bring to a new home, or a new couple, or a new mother, or a friend who is going through a difficult month. It says: here is enough. Do not worry about running out.
We have started seeing Maknoon tins delivered to offices and homes in Dubai for exactly that reason. A bottle is a thank you. A tin is a promise.
The honest truth
The 5L tin will change how you cook. Not because the oil is different; it is the same Maknoon you have always known, but because you will stop measuring. You will pour with both hands. You will refill the small bottle without flinching. You will offer it to friends who come over, and they will leave with the smell of it on their hands.
That is the art of abundance. It is not about having more. It is about acting like you have enough.
Which, with a 5L tin on the shelf, you do.
Meet The 5L
Olive Oil Tin
What’s better than Maknoon? More of Maknoon.
5 Liters of pure, honest, and rooted in tradition; this is olive oil as it was meant to be.
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