Martin Van Almsick walked through the factory floor and paused at a machine folding golden foil around slabs of milk chocolate.

He eyed the contraption with adoration.

“It’s like an Aston Martin. 1962. Everybody wants it but they’re hard to get,” he said.

“50 bars a minute. For us, this is perfect. It uses a little bit of glue from Dusseldorf.”

There are deep vats of roasting cacao beans, and trays with hazelnuts swirled into thick puddles of chocolate. Another machine clicks and whirls little squares of chocolate into paper.

“This is a Rasch, from my hometown,” he said with pride.

The Dubai factory follows the oldest traditions of chocolatiers from Van Almsick’s hometown of Cologne.

It differs in just one respect, a not-so-secret ingredient: camel milk.

Mr Van Almsick is the man behind Al Nassma, the world’s first camel milk chocolate factory.

This small factory of 50 employees in Dubai Silicon Oasis makes 600kg of chocolate a day and delivers products from Morocco to Malaysia. Its milk powder is sourced from Dubai’s camel dairy, Camelicious.

The success story began on Easter Sunday in 2004, when Van Almsick and his Sudanese wife Hanan Ahmed were relaxing on the sofa watching a travel show at their home in Cologne.

A German veterinarian appeared on screen, extolling the health benefits of camel milk. It was Ulrich Wernery, the scientific director of Dubai Central Veterinary Research Laboratory and one of the forces behind Camelicious.

This sweet ride was crafted by the team at Al Nassma chocolate factory in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National
This sweet ride was crafted by the team at Al Nassma chocolate factory in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National
The couple immediately saw the potential.

“We just saw it, you know,” said Ms Ahmed. “They have a camel farm in Dubai, and they’re making camel milk powder and directly we had the idea, why is there no camel milk chocolate?”

“The same day our friend presented his sheep milk chocolate to the public. So the idea was not a stretch for us, eh?” said Mr Van Almsick.

Mr Van Almsick started experimenting with renowned Austrian chocolatier Johann Georg Hochleitner to perfect recipes using the salty camel milk.

Al Nassma general manager Martin Van Almsick and wife Hanan Ahmed, who is customer relationship manager. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Al Nassma general manager Martin Van Almsick and wife Hanan Ahmed, who is customer relationship manager. Chris Whiteoak / The National
By August 2007, the family had moved to Dubai to set up and run the factory. Mentors came to Dubai from Cologne and Vienna to train staff for the 2008 opening.

It would take another six years before camel milk was recognised as a dairy product by the EU. Legislation only considered cows, sheep and goats as viable milk producers.

The couple originally lived in a furnished villa by the Camelicious camel farm, next door to Hungarian microbiologists, an Indian diary expert, a Sudanese vet and their families.

Mr Van Almsick loved it. “We could focus entirely on setting up a chocolate factory from day one. It was a bit out of town but we learned everything about camels, which was great for us.”
Ms Ahmed remembered the farm less fondly. Their children were ages one, six and ten. “It was very hard, living there,” she said. “There was nothing. Until today I have a real horror of camel spiders. For me, it was the whole day saying to the children ‘close the door, don’t go out’. I love the desert but…”

“Remember the time you saved me from the viper?” said her husband, recalling an unwanted house guest.

Schooling was another challenge. Their eldest spoke little English and commuted to the German school in Sharjah. Mr Van Almsick and Ms Ahmed were among the parents who started the German school in Dubai with the German consulate.

Family life revolved around the business. “Everything we did was centred around the chocolate,” said Mr Van Almsick. “Al Nassma was a number one priority for the whole family. There’s very little we do just for fun. Even when we go on holidays we visit our retail partners.”

An extraordinary life was perhaps always in the cards for a couple with an unusual beginning.

They met in Hungary. Ms Ahmed had left Sudan to study international law in Budapest. Mr Van Almsick was on his way to catch the Transiberian. He had rented a room in the campus dorms. After a chance meeting, they stayed in touch by landline phone.

Mr Van Almsick returned to Cologne after three months and Ms Ahmed followed six months later. They studied together at Cologne University and worked at the city’s Chocolate Museum. Mr Van Almsick would become manager.