Why 5 Of The World's Priciest Salts And Spices Are So Expensive | So Expensive Food

While searching the

world

for

expensive

items, we came across some of the most

expensive

condiments we use to flavor our

food

, from cinnamon to bamboo salt, cloves, and river cane salt. Join us as we review what makes these

spices

and

salts

so expensive. First we head to South Korea to see why bamboo salt is the most expensive salt in the

world

. This is standard sea salt, but after 30 days it will become high quality bamboo salt. It costs almost 100 for an eight and a half ounce jar, making it the most expensive salt. In the world, then, what is bamboo salt used for and why is it so expensive?

For hundreds of years, Koreans have used bamboo salt for cooking, and as a form of traditional medicine, it is made by placing sea salt inside the bamboo and roasting it at a high temperature. The goal is to infuse the salt with minerals from the bamboo and remove any impurities, but the premium compared to other types of salt is high. Nine times roasted bamboo salt, sometimes called purple bamboo salt, can cost more than 10 times the price of pink Himalayan salt. salt, most of that cost comes from the labor-intensive process, each step is done by hand and the process begins by cutting three-year-old bamboo into uniform logs, leaving one side closed as a container for West Coast sea salt From Korea, the bamboo is densely packed by hand.

Workers load the filled bamboo onto a cart and push it into an oven. Traditionally only pine logs are used. This process takes about 12 to 14 hours. Bake everything at over 800 degrees Celsius. Burn. the bamboo leaving a column of salt but the process has barely begun abroad the ninth and final roast is the hottest at more than 1000 degrees Celsius it is fired in a special oven and is operated by an expert shintae jun has been making salt from bamboo for over 20 years that experience is extremely important because any mistake at this stage could result in the loss of a month's work at this temperature, the salt and bamboo completely melt and drain into a mold after a few days After cooling, a blackened rock-like structure remains.

These are nine times roasted bamboo salineros. Break this down carefully by hand trying not to waste any material. After a month of work it is ready to be packed and welded. The final price varies depending on where you buy it and what form it is in, but nine times roasted bamboo salt is not cheap. The health benefits of

food

s have always played an important role in Korean culture for centuries. Bamboo salt cooked two or three times has been used in traditional Korean medicine, but in the 20th century the process of roasting nine times was developed. Manufacturers say that this process has the least toxicity. and the higher mineral content today is used to cook toothpaste, soap and various remedies.

Proponents of bamboo salt say it can help with everything from digestion to oral health, skin care to inflammation, and even has anti-cancer effects, but the proposed medical benefits have probably helped. maintains its high price, but there have not been enough scientific studies to fully support all of these claims. Studies have shown that bamboo salt contains higher levels of iron, potassium and calcium compared to regular sea salt and may improve your immune system, but these beneficial minerals make up only a small percentage, the majority of bamboo salt. Bamboo is sodium chloride, even with lower toxicity, it is unclear how potent the health benefits are in 2016, who wrote in a report that the composition of the special

salts

poses no toxicological risks but does not offer any nutritional benefits.

Relevant or full benefits of bamboo salt compared to sea salt have not yet been thoroughly researched, but despite that, bamboo is still a popular seller and cinnamon is native to only one region of the world and producing it requires hours of delicate work even. Most skilled workers can produce only a few pounds of cinnamon sticks a day. A pound of cinnamon sticks may cost $27, but not all

spices

labeled as cinnamon are the Ceylon variety, many on the Western market are actually types of cinnamon. Cheaper ones called cassia, so what does Ceylon cinnamon do? So favorable and why it is so expensive Parlor cinnamon is named after the old British name for Sri Lanka and is often considered real cinnamon.

It is made from the dried inner bark of a tree called cinnamom verum. Growing these trees is an investment that farmers should look forward to. Four years after planting a tree before they can start harvesting the workers break the branches early in the morning, when the bark is still wet again, they must care for the trees continuously throughout the year, otherwise the branches will be unfit To make cinnamon at all, the rigorous nature of this work has only just begun. Now peelers must do the delicate and essential work of removing the inner bark from each branch by hand.

This is the most labor-intensive part of the process and is not as easy as just shaving. the outside of the bark as you would the skin of a potato to produce the most valuable cinnamon the bark must be extremely thin the thinner the quills the more expensive they will be ruined has spent 40 years mastering this skill shortly after the bark is cut bark Each piece is removed, dried in the sun and rolled a few minutes after drying. Small pieces are stuffed inside a straight piece of bark forming a 42-inch plume. At the end of a long day, workers will only have produced about three pounds of quills.

Then they must drive for three or four days before they are packaged in veils and sent to a separate facility where they will be graded and officially priced based on their width pd romance and the sons buy bundles of cinnamon from various peelers in their facilities the quills are classified into 10 scales the most valuable quills are classified as alba a peeler takes four times longer to produce a kilogram of alba than to produce the same quantity of inferior qualities the smaller leftover cuts are converted into ground cinnamon and processed The cheapest form, but even the most valuable picks are often confused with a more accessible and cheaper variety of cinnamon, comes from another type of cinnamon tree called cassia cinnamon and does not require as much time or effort to make cassia bark. be hard and tough, so the quills are made like a piece of curly bark without filling.

Cinnamon Cinnamon, on the other hand, is tender and soft and needs those inner layers to prevent the pick from breaking through. It is very fragrant and brown, while real cinnamon is paler with a milder flavor. Cassia also contains on average higher levels of coumarin, an organic compound that can cause liver damage if consumed in large quantities. That's why researchers say Ceylon cinnamon is ultimately the healthiest option, but if you buy cinnamon in the US it can be difficult. To differentiate between them, part of the confusion between the two comes from the use of the cinnamon label.

In the US, it is legal to label both Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon as cinnamon, while in the UK and other countries cassia must and cannot be labeled as cassia. be classified simply as cinnamon, regardless of what it is called in the US, consumers around the world prefer real cinnamon in 2018, Ceylon accounted for more global cinnamon revenue than any other variety, but even when demand is expected to grow until 2025, climate change represents a serious threat to cinnamon. Production in recent years Sri Lanka has experienced droughts for several months and these long periods of dry weather can kill cinnamon trees which need boggy, wet soils to survive.

There is also a shortage of cinnamon peelers, another threat to production that will likely increase the prices this industry depends on. into experienced peelers who can practice the difficult work of making these picks for many years. Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Just one kilogram can sell for ninety dollars, but getting that little bit of green cardamom requires a lot of effort. Working pickers need to pick six kilograms of these small raw pods by hand to produce just one kilogram of the spice, so why is it so difficult to grow green cardamom?

And what makes it so expensive, known as the queen of spices, comes from children. The oval-shaped fruits called pods that contain several black seeds within those seeds are what give green cardamom its unique sweet, citrus flavor and aroma. The green cardamom plant grows in select regions around the world, but especially thrives in the Iduki district of India, where Raja's family has grown the spice for 30 years. After planting the cardamom, farmers must wait three years. In order for the plants to mature when the waiting period finally ends, workers have most of the year, from July until next February, to harvest, although that is a long harvest period, not all the pods can be harvested at the same time and knowing exactly when to harvest is a job for highly skilled foreign workers to do the job well the pickers train for six months alongside experienced farmers, this is when they learn to decipher a ripe fruit that can be picked versus a raw pod that is still it is not ready to harvest in the end the plant does not produce much farmers harvest a maximum of 10 pods on average from each plant that number of pods produces only about a teaspoon and a half of ground cardamom but the harvest is only beginning only after The pods have dried well, they look like the green cardamom sold in stores.

You can buy cardamom pods just the black seeds or ground cardamom, which are the powdered seeds. All pods are taken to a separate location to dry for approximately 18 hours. About a day after harvest, any delay will cause the pods to rot and lose flavor. Drying also preserves the green color of the spice, a factor that directly affects the value of a pod and what it will be used for. From here, the pods are cleaned and sorted workers use their hands to push and separate the smaller, lower quality pods through the holes. Each pod is then sorted according to its size, weight and color.

High-value pods are larger, greener and full of seeds. Of all the raja cardamom crops, most won. In fact, it is worth a lot, only one sixth will qualify as good marketable quality. Some whole green cardamom pods exported from other producers can be even more expensive. They retail for more than four times the price, at ninety dollars a kilogram. The company's lowest quality costs 900 Indian rupees or about $12 per kilogram and can be sold as ground cardamom pods. Cardamom pods with any signs of discoloration or rot are not marketable and will therefore be rejected abroad, but this whole process could be totally disrupted by changes in the weather, if it rains too much the pods rot if not enough will get sunburned more recently the global climate crisis and unpredictable weather in the iduki district in India specifically have heard supplies of green cardamom the district accounts for at least one sixth of global production and about three quarters parts of India's production Green cardamom production, but its supply has been affected in recent years as severe weather and rains ruined farmers' crops.

This raised cardamom prices in 2019, but did not necessarily benefit small farmers to make big profits. Farmers need a large inventory and when small farmers sell cardamom in small quantities, most of the payment is used to cover the cost of production, Raja alone spends around fifteen thousand Indian rupees or around two hundred dollars per acre on fertilizer alone. , which represents between ten and fifteen percent of total profits. He will earn that acre and those earnings often do not cover the total Raja must spend on production. Taking all this into account, the global cardamom market is expected to grow by around $169 million between 2021 and 2025.

This is good for the industry. But it could present a challenge for farmers who cannot meet demand, as the climate crisis continues to threaten the supply of this sought-after spice in the southern Indian forest. Pickers climb trees up to 50 feet tall to hand-pick these clove sprouts when more than half a pound are exported. of these dried cloves cost thirty dollars, that is, ten times more than a bit of cumin, but since they concentrate on maintaining balance, collectors must also be careful not to break the cloves.buds, if they do, the value of the clove drops significantly and that is where the risk begins.

To harvest cloves correctly, workers risk their lives, so what makes cloves worth the risks and why are they so expensive? Clones are the flower buds of clove trees that have not yet bloomed when dried, commonly used as a spice. The flavor is complex with notes of sweetness, bitterness and heat. The oil found in cloves has medicinal properties that make the spice valuable beyond just cooking. Nails with the round head or crown still intact have the most oil, but you need to get nails with the highest oil content possible. Highly skilled workers are needed at every stage.

Harvesting cloves is a very big job, it's a very risky job, so we have to get special people to do that to get to the top of the trees. Gatherers like Shibu rely only on a ladder and some rope, reinforcing the bottom of the ladder with mud so it doesn't move while navigating the tall tree. Shibu ties a sack around his waist and then begins to climb from the top of the tree to the bottom. Do not collect too early or too late or the cloves will lose quality and value, in addition to collecting them at the exact moment and being careful not to damage the clove bud, they must make sure not to break the branches of the trees they climb, otherwise Otherwise the tree will have a lower yield next harvest season Navigating all of these elements can be extremely dangerous on black rock farms Harvesting clothes has caused death A couple of years ago we lost a worker who was in love while starting up the lightning equipment Approximately six of them were paralyzed as if we had to rush them and rush them to the hospital and they were admitted for a month, but manual harvesting is the only way farms like Blackrock Estate have managed to maintain delivery in linen. quality because time is It is crucial that Charles needs a large team to pick out the clothes as soon as they are ready, which is usually mid to late February.

Charles can sell the clothes at their highest price in the first 25 days of the harvest season, the more he can harvest during this time, the better it will be for the business when the clove season is in full swing, when we have a fall very good, we will have around 300 workers during the peak harvest season, these workers earn around $30 per day on average once the clove bunches are picked. Pickers carefully remove individual buds from the stems and leaves, sifting and sorting each bud according to its size, age and whether it has a crown. It is best if the circular crown of the clove where it would otherwise flourish is still intact, this enhances the flavor and aroma of the spice, although there are machines to assist with this process.

Charles prefers to pay to have it done by hand to reduce the risk of damaging the tooth. they have shine breaking and sorting with machinery, but still half of the clothes are damaged because we received broken clothes, so it is not very good to do it with machine, the highest quality clothes were collected at the right time, just before they turned pink or bloomed. They are big and plump and still have the crown. The second quality cloves also have their tips, but they are smaller, they were picked too early or too late and the third quality ones do not have a crown and the tip has bloomed or has broken off after the sorting workers let the clothes dry. to the sun.

High-quality clothing takes three days to dry in good sunlight, but a quality nail is not always sold as the highest quality because the official grading is not done until it is dry, if at all. little or too much sun the quality of the clothing goes down instead of browning it turns black and loses one of its most valuable properties its oil content the top quality cloves are the most fragrant and have the highest oil content the headless cloves of Third quality have the lowest and the difference is noticeable in the price Charles sells his top quality clothing for about ten dollars per kilogram and his lowest quality for less than seven dollars.

Clove oil is mainly composed of the compound eugenol, which is not only responsible for the familiar aroma of clove but also for its Medicinal Benefits Researchers have observed that eugenol has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antioxidant properties, thus the demand for clothing goes beyond its culinary uses. Cloves are so sought after in India that Charles is able to sell more than just the buds. We sell everything that is no longer useful. he wastes even pollen, dust, everything we sell, that is also because the cloves he grows, Kanye Kumari cloves are known for their high oil content and strong aroma.

In fact, these nails received a gi indication in 2021, Charles says that Kanyakumari nails are the most expensive variety in India, when you go to the market to buy cloves, the crow price will be about three times the price we give, they will be around of 2000 rupees, where we only get 750. The retail price is much higher due to the supply chain to maximize. With the farm's profits, Charles will not sell his clothing directly to consumers who only buy smaller quantities as needed, but instead sells them to clothing merchants who buy large quantities. Retailers like Franklin Roosevelt then have to keep the clothes fresh until they sell them to retailers.

If they don't store the clothes properly, their shelf life drops globally to cover the cost of quality control. Franklin sells clothes to stores for almost $12. per kilo stores that buy from Franklin have to pay transportation and packaging costs, which drives up the retail price of clothing in India even higher, but one of the biggest challenges at every step of the supply chain has been climate change, so its owner is that between 2018 and 2019 India lost 13 metric tons of clothing due to heavy rains and while the global clove market is expected. To grow three and a half percent by 2027, climate change may still continue to disproportionately affect clove farmers.

On the first day, collectors cut these river reeds and eight days after drying, burning and filtering the reeds, one of the most expensive salts in the world will be produced. Globally, just a tablespoon of river reed salt costs about a dollar in Kenya, compared to four cents for the same amount of sea salt for locals. So how do producers make salt from river reed and why is river reed salt so expensive? Chun vi ya kienji is made from the reeds of the matua plant that grows along the Anzoya River, once the salt is extracted. It is usually sold in small quantities to chefs and luxury hotel owners in Kenya and abroad.

Buyers describe its salty flavor as powerful and umami-like. I buy the river in salt because I will say that the magic in it, the texture is smooth, it is not harsh, of course, for those who have tried the umami of Japan, it tastes almost the same, but this one has a stronger flavor, so when you are cooking with it, you won't use much today only the bukutu community in the village of wabuye continues the traditional process of making this rare salt by hand this is the anzoya river and this is andrew wagnoni cicanga andrew and his children harvest the canes that grow at along the banks of the river before heading out to harvest Andrew starts the morning with a prayer they pray to protect themselves from the dangers they might encounter in the river such as snakes and crocodiles to avoid coming into contact with them Andrew and his children need to harvest early uh today they are looking for mature river reeds if the reed is not at least two meters high and the flowers at the top are not withered and almost dry the salt concentration will be too low andrew cuts into the mature reeds being careful not to uproot the plant or cut too close to the roots that way the canes can grow back more quickly and the roots can continue to spread over other rocks only canes with a high salt content make the effort worth it because of them andrew can produce enough salt to sell again although there was a slight injury today's harvest was good after a long day sailing the waters of the anzoya river andrew and his sons leave the river bank with a bunch of reeds those 20 tablespoons will be sold for about 20 now they can begin the long manual process of salt extraction first andrew must dry the reeds drying the reeds can take four days when the sky is sunny but in cloudier weather it will take longer to start processing he has to burn the reeds to about three days, once all the reeds turn into ashes, Andrew places them in a large pot with drainage holes, then slowly adds water, the water seeps through the ashes and holes, every drop collects in the bottom, pour those drops through another filter and into an aluminum pan.

He then places the pan over an open fire where the solution is allowed to boil until the liquid finally evaporates. After a full day of work, Andrew is left with this moist salty paste. The next day he packs the paste into banana leaves and place under heat. The ashes dry after three hours The salt hardens from the cane to the salt The process takes at least eight days Andrew will sell the salt in the banana leaves This is the same long process that his family has practiced for generations It is believed that The tradition began in the 17th century.

When the Bokuzu people migrated east from the Congo at a time when areas of western Kenya were cut off from salt roots, they set out to find a way to extract salt from these aquatic plants, centuries ago. Later, salt that was made out of necessity became an expensive commodity. On the market, this packet containing just three tablespoons of river reed salt costs about three dollars and this larger packet, at seven dollars, is likely to sell out because local demand is high. Buyers know the hard work that goes into making salt, so they find the price worth it.

Although there are no studies to confirm this, market vendors say that part of what keeps local demand for salt high is the belief that it has special medicinal properties, but the most notable characteristic is its flavor; in fact, salt Andrew River cane won the title for most. Unique indigenous salt at an international gastronomy exhibition in Italy in 2014. Slow Food, one of the organizers of the exhibition, established a presidium in 2009 for Kenyan river cane salt to drive greater demand for the product, but meet that Demand would require more supply, which is difficult. When production is so limited, one of the biggest threats to river cane salt production is climate change, according to slow food, population growth in Kenya has caused deforestation.

The indigenous trees along the Angzoya River have long held soil particles together and provided shade, keeping temperatures stable, but the loss of these trees along with higher temperatures, unstable river levels and Landslides have contributed to the loss of river reeds. Andrew tried growing the reeds with other water sources but couldn't get the same result, in addition to conservation efforts such as slowly replanting native trees. Food is working to create more marshy areas for reeds to grow in, as the river lee salts really get along well with the river waters. We were thinking that if we try to divert some of these river waters a little bit and have a soft area plus some of the rocks, we can try to see if we can increase the number of breeds because I know that as people continue to learn about this particular salt , there will be a huge demand for this project along with greater commercial exposure of the river salt hopes. to help producers like Andrew and his children keep their work alive for generations to come.