Halabja - Salem Halabja drives about one hour a day, heading to Hawar village, which is located at the last border point between Iraq and Iran in Halabja governorate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and then continues his journey for about 5 kilometers on foot between valleys towards the mountains to reach his beloved "The Butm Tree". which are abundant there.
Halabji waits every year with the onset of summer, to begin with him the journey of making what is called “bitter gum, Kurdish chewing gum, or water chewing gum,” which continues until the end of the aforementioned chapter.
Halabji cuts different sections of the tree in its trunk with his ax, then places special clay dishes that are kneaded with hay and stuck to the trunk for 15 days. Then it is placed in a large pot with a quantity of water and boiled well for about 45 minutes, then it is cooled with ice or cold water to turn into "gum", one kilogram of which is sold between 50 and 100 dollars, depending on its quality.
In addition to its production of bitter gum juice, the fruits of the butym tree are used in the manufacture of beads for swimming pools called "Caspian", which is very famous in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The fruits of the pomegranate tree are small reddish green grains, but after picking they turn brown, and the time for harvesting is usually the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
The price of some rosaries made from the fruits of the fruits of al-batm reaches thousands of dollars, depending on the beauty of their shape and the decoration on them.