- It's a saffron room.
Wow!
Look at that.
Thousands of dollars of saffron.
- I don't need to work next month.
(laughing)
- And how much is this here?
- It's 4000 Euro.
- 4000 Euro.
- Just as a base price.
- That's amazing.
- You can take it, no problem.
Take it?
- He can take it.
(laughing)
- Let's go.
Right there.
I'm just gonna push these out.
We got my saffron.
All right, check it out guys.
This is Trevor James.
We just got into Masshad with Mr. Taster
and today, this is a full-on food city.
We're going for a huge
Persian food adventure.
- (Taster) So now we gonna go for Haleem,
which is famous stew.
It's a beef pure fast in Mashhad.
It's really famous in Nishapur, Mashhad.
And then we gonna go to a local house
which they got lots of food for us.
And then we gonna go for saffron.
- (James) A full-on saffron.
- (Taster) Saffron Persian bowl.
- (James) Factory tour.
Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
- Let's check it out.
(exciting music)
- (James) Today we're going
into the world's largest
saffron factory and going
right out to the fields
to see how saffron is grown.
Worth more than gold.
So make sure to watch
all the way until the end
and leave us a comment below.
Let's eat.
And here we are, Mashhad, 4 a.m.
Just got in and we're
startin' the day off strong.
- Yeah, with Haleem.
- Haleem?
- Yeah
- (James) Beef and mutton, wheat stew.
- (Taster) Exactly.
And in Mashhad, the difference between
Haleem and mushroom and Terron,
is we put famous stew in Mashhad.
- (James) Famous stew?
- (Taster) Yeah. It's really nice.
- Should be good.
- Eat with us.
(kissing)
- Let's go try it out.
And here we are.
Four a.m.
We're going to see how it's made.
- Salaam.
- (speaking Persian)
- Salaam.
We are going straight in.
- Salaam.
Salaam.
(James) Oh, so this is where it starts?
Oh, ho, ho, ho.
That's amazing.
- (Taster) It is.
- (James) Meat stew.
Oh, and this is the beef.
- (Taster) Yeah.
It's been cooked for
three and a half hours.
- (James) Wow.
- (Taster) And they've got the fat
and now it's ready almost.
- (James) Over here...
- (Taster) That's the famous stew.
You've got lentils.
You've got lamb and
you've got onions in it.
- (James) Wow, look at that.
Oh, and tomato.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) Oh, and this
is where it all starts?
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) So we're gonna
mix that wheat stew?
- (Taster) Exactly.
- (James) With the beef.
There we go.
That's full.
And it's just starting
to come out the bottom.
Wow.
There it comes.
It smoothed out.
- (Taster) Marisol.
- (James) Oh, and he's
just adding in a little bit
of that wheat water, right?
- (Taster) Exactly, yes.
- (James) And it's coming
right out the bottom.
So this is a famous breakfast dish.
- Yes.
- You eat it--
- And it's really heavy.
- bright and early?
- Yeah.
- Really heavy.
- Yeah.
- It'll fill ya up.
- Normally they finish about eight a.m.
- (James) Eight a.m.?
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) And look at that.
That wheat stew.
It's just comin' right
out and goes in here.
Wow.
- (Taster) Look at that.
- It's just dancing.
- Yeah, like this.
(lauging)
- (James) Oh, and here comes the beef.
That looks juicy.
So they're gonna pound this out first?
- (Taster) Yes.
- (James) And then put it in?
- (Taster) Yes.
- (James) So we're manually
putting in that pan,
pounded beef with the wheat.
There goes.
Oh my goodness.
Look it how thick it is.
(Mideastern music)
- (James) Wow.
- (Taster) I didn't know it's that hard.
- (James) Yeah.
- (Taster) I just eating
it in the morning.
- (James) Yeah!
(laughing)
As you can see we're just adding in
scoop after scoop of this
wheat into the beef.
And it's getting mixed
in smoother and smoother.
And it smells so delicious.
And that'll fill you up in the morning.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) That's heavy.
Oh, high speed.
Oh, and there it is.
That wheat and beef stew going right in.
So the beef and wheat is going
to get fully mixed in here.
Oh and it's gonna be hand mixed.
Look at that.
Oh, and here's the butter.
It's going to go in?
- Yeah.
- (James) The butter going in.
Oh, oh, ho. That's where
it gets the heaviness.
That right there is pure butter.
This is the finished product here.
It goes right in this bucket
and it's gonna get dumped
into the giant tub.
Oh, and there it is.
Look at that.
Right in.
And it's gonna be mixed
with the lamb stew.
Look at that Haleem,
we're gonna get our first bowl.
There's the butter.
Oh, wow.
Then it's gonna get scooped out.
Wow, look at that.
Right in the bowl.
There's the lamb and lentil.
Look at that.
It's gonna go right on top.
Oh, that's the magic.
- (Taster) That's the magic, yeah.
- (James) That is gonna be
really, really delicious.
Oh, and butter!
- (Taster) Yeah.
Look at that.
- (Taster) It's gorgeous.
- (James) Yeah, that's gorgeous.
- (Taster) And some cinnamon.
- (James) And some cinnamon.
Merci.
Rush kelay.
Rush kelay.
- Merci.
Telemon good.
- Looks good.
Let's go try it out.
- Yeah.
- And you can smell that cinnamon.
Oh, it's like a wheat paste.
- (Taster) Yeah.
Look at that.
- (James) Wow.
And I really love the smell
of the cinnamon on top there.
Oh.
Wow.
- (James) And I think that
lamb stew they add on top
really makes a difference.
Gives it a bit of that aroma from the meat
from the light spices.
- (speaking Persian) Yes.
(laughing)
- It's delicious.
- It is, yeah.
- Merci.
(flute whistles)
- A Haleem song?
- Yeah.
(laughing)
(Mideastern music and clapping)
♪Oh, oh Haleem ah♪
♪Oh baby Haleem ah♪
♪Oh, oh Haleem ah♪
- Merci.
- Merci
- That's what I'm pointing to.
Merci. Thank you.
- Oschkele
(Laughter)
Merci.
- (James) And next stop,
before the factory tour,
we're driving out deep into
the country side of Mashhad
to see one of the most
unique things ever recorded
on this channel.
The saffron farms of Iran.
And here we are.
Good morning from saffron land.
It is five a.m.
The sun is just rising and we're going to
drive out into the country
and see the wild saffron.
- (James) And we are off.
And we're gonna go see the
flowers open on the saffron.
And it's a beautiful site to see.
- Yeah
- Saffron in the morning.
- I never seen it in my whole life.
- So they--Yeah! Me neither!
- Yeah.
- (James) This is worth
more than gold per kilo.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) And it's exported
all across the world.
- (Taster) Exactly.
- And we've been traveling for the last
almost ten days days,
- Yeah
- and a lot of the food
that we've been having
has had this in it.
- You know, what we think,
we think saffron is gift from God.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
Because you can't grow
it anywhere in the world.
- (James) So we're gonna
take a close look here
and then drive to the
saffron king's factory.
- (Taster) Yeah.
We gonna meet Mr. Shariati.
He's real king of saffron.
And you're gonna see his
factory and processing
the saffron...
- (James) And he's gonna
give us a big lunch.
- (Taster) Yeah.
(laughing)
- (James) Let's do it.
Salaam.
And these ladies are
gonna pick the flower?
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) The saffron.
And here we are, these
ladies are just starting
to harvest the saffron.
And you can see we're
hand picking the saffron
piece by piece.
Wow, look at this.
We gotta a big basket of saffron.
That's all pure saffron flower.
And Hameed was telling us
that 90 kg of the flower
produces only one kg of the final product.
And look at this,
this is pure
Persian saffron.
So aromatic.
Oh, that is pure Persian gold.
And look at this,
we're deep in the deserts of Persia.
It doesn't get any better.
And we're hand picking
saffron as we speak.
And that is so beautiful.
This is a full basket of saffron now.
- Saffornoni.
- Saffrononi.
Ela hu?
- That much.
- Is that much?
- That much.
Is that much?
- No. No.
(Laughing)
(Speaking Persian)
- That's the nageem.
Only three strands per flower.
Merci.
You can just drop your
sugar in to this black tea.
Merci. Merci.
And we're just hanging out.
- (Taster) Yeah, this
is the saffron powder.
- With a...
- Look at that.
- Black tea, and you can
just add the saffron in?
- Yeah. Look at that.
- Oh.
Look at that.
There it is.
Wow.
Saffron tea and sugar.
- (Taster) Yeah, and do like this.
- Oh.
Just drop it in.
Oh ho ho!
(laughing)
- And now have it.
- Oh, yeah.
Oh.
- (Speaks Persian) Very delicious.
Wow.
- Drinking gold.
- Drinking gold.
(laughing)
So we're gonna finish our tea,
hang out a bit,
and then we're going to the factory?
- To the factory.
- To see how it's processed,
and have a big lunch.
- Exactly.
- Let's do it.
- Let's go.
- (James) And next up,
before our beautiful home-cooked Persian
Village Feast in the countryside,
we're going to visit the world's largest
saffron export factory.
And before the saffron factory,
I think we're stopping
at a pomegranate stop.
Oh, and this is the pomegranate garden.
Oh, these are all pomegranate.
We came to a little pomegranate oasis.
- Yeah.
- We're on our way to the saffron factory,
and look at this.
We got thousands of pomegranate trees.
- Wow.
- (James) Okay.
And we're just gonna cut that beauty open.
Oh, and look at that.
It's a pomegranate bowl.
(laughing)
look at that, pure rubies.
Doesn't get any better than that.
And there's no better
feeling than getting full on
pomegranate.
(Laughter)
And we're going to the
saffron factory now.
Thank you.
- Merci.
- Merci.
- (James) We're going into
the saffron factory, guys.
And here we are.
- Hello.
- Saffron factory.
Number one saffron...
- Yeah
- ...exporter.
- Exactly.
- In the world.
- In the world, yeah.
- Wow.
That's super cool.
And first before heading down
right over here into this
massive saffron factory,
we're gonna have a local dish: the Sholeh.
It's like an upgraded Haleem stew.
- This is Haleem
- Haleem, wheat and beef stew.
- (Taster) Yeah, that's the one.
- (James) And this is the
real special here, right?
- (Taster) This is Sholeh.
- (James) Sholeh.
- (Taster) So it's meat,
wheat, rice, and beans.
- (James) And it's for energy.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) That looks thick.
- (Taster) It is thick, yeah.
- (James) Look at the consistency there.
- (Taster) It takes almost
24 hours to cook it.
And you can find it only in Mashhad.
- Only in Mashhad?
- No where else.
- The Sholeh.
- Yeah.
(Slurping noises)
(Laughing)
- Merci.
- (James) Thank you.
- You're most welcome.
- (James) Thank you.
- This is really nice.
(Speaking Persian)
- And Mr. Ali here is...
The owner.
The king of saffron.
He's going to be showing
us around this big factory.
Oh wow. Saffron on the Sholeh.
(James) Look at that
you can see the saffron.
Mix it together.
Oh wow.
Let's try it out.
Oh wow.
This is really good.
(Laughing)
(Speaking Persian)
- At the top of the [Inaudible].
(Laughing)
- And we're going into
the saffron factory now.
- Yeah.
- And we're going down.
Into the saffron factory.
Oh here it is. Oh ho ho! Look at this!
(James) Wow, that's the red gold.
Oh, look at how fine it
is. It's really pure.
(Ali) Yes, yes...
(James) This is the best of the best?
(Ali) Yes, one of the best.
(James) And how much is this here?
- It's 4000 Euro.
- 4000 Euro?
- Yes, as a base price.
- That's amazing.
- You can take it, no problem.
- Take it?
- Yeah take it.
(Laughing)
- Let's go. Right there.
I'm going with this.
- (Guide) Is it saffron? It's
red. What it's saffron...
- (James) Oh my goodness.
It's a saffron room.
Wow.
Look at that.
This is amazing.
- Yes.
- Look at this storage vault.
- It's very good, yes.
- (James) Premium quality.
- Yes, yes.
- (James) So what the price...
- It's one of the best in there.
It's a little more, but not too much.
- (James) A little more?
- Three thousand... (speaks Persian)
- (James) three thousand dollars?
- In Euros.
- Each one.
- (James) Each one of these.
So we're looking at...
A lot of Euros right here.
- (Ali) Yeah.
(Laughter)
- This is pretty much money right here.
- Yeah.
(Laughter)
- I'm just gonna push these out.
- (laughs) we got my
saffron shopping cart here.
Wow, and this is the production line here?
The packing room?
Oh wow.
Look at these.
And we're going into the
sorting station here.
(Machine blowing air)
- (Ali) you come inside and have a...
- (James) Okay.
- (Ali) it's your turn.
- (Taster) rotate!
- (James) and rotate.
Get on. Oh there we go.
(Machine blowing air)
we're going in!
(laughs) we're going in the saffron.
Okay.
(Machine blowing air)
(laughter)
- (James) Like a marshmallow.
So this is where it all starts?
- (Ali) First open it...
- (James) Open it, oh yeah, there it is.
- (Ali)...then take the red part.
And then separate the red from yellow.
- Oh there it is. There it is!
- (Ali) Okay
I got it. So that's the saffron?
- (Ali) Yes.
Now should separate from
these three from here.
Yes, in the spring they took with the--
Yes! Yes.
(James) Just like that?
(Clapping)
- (James) Is that good?
- He win, he win!
- And Mr. Ali was mentioning
that this right here
Saffron, can help with so many ailments.
Depression, helps you feel healthy.
Gives you energy and I can see
why it's so expensive because
so many hours are put into
producing every single gram.
What an amazing experience to see
the saffron, the big bags, the laboratory.
The sorting, the separation.
Thank you for having us. It's amazing.
Wow, really amazing.
- (James) Wow thank you so
much for having us here.
You happy?
- Yeah
- (James) You feel happy with saffron?
- Thank you very much for
having us. That was amazing.
- (Taster speaking Persian)
- (laughs)
- That was really cool. Thank you.
- (Ali) okay, okay.
- (James) Bye-bye, thank you.
That was really cool.
And we're off.
(Persian music)
- (James) And to finish up the night
We're going out deep into the country side
for a very rare Persian village meal.
And we're just driving out
way into the country side.
And here we are.
Wow.
Thank you. How are you?
Thank you! Salaam.
Wow, and this is where you put
your feet under to stay warm!
You like that thing?
- Oh yes!
(laughter)
(Speaking Persian)
(Strumming instrument, vocalizing)
- (James) So we're gonna
have some kabobs and music.
- (Taster) Exactly.
(vocalizing in Persian)
- (James) Oh and here we go. Koobideh?
- Koobideh.
- Koobideh. We're gonna have koobideh
with this beautiful music.
We just got in--look at that.
(continues vocalizing,
instrument strumming)
- (James) oh and here we go. Koobideh.
Right on the grill. It doesn't
get any better than that.
Oh and those koobideh, those
are ready. Look at these.
Sizzling and loaded with fat.
And downstairs
is where they're cooking
the traditional food.
Hameed was saying he hasn't
seen it in twenty years.
Salaam!
- Salaam (speaking Persian.)
- (James) Salaam!
Wow.
What we walked into
was a purely magical village
kitchen seldom seen anymore.
With so many dishes being
made in front of our eyes.
Like this rich walnut stew
and this curd and eggplant and mint stew.
Wow, so this is the solid curd
and it's going to get
liquid coming out of it
And it's going to go
in with the aubergine.
Aubergine with curd.
- Yes. Aubergine with curd.
- (James) Wow. That was solid
curd and now it's liquid.
Oh, and it's going right in.
That's eggplant, tomato, onion...Oh mint!
Wow and this is the Ash-e.
That's the Persian noodle mint stew.
Oh and this is just amazing,
we've got a ton of different
local specialties here.
We've got the abgoosht. Look at that.
Lamb right on the bone.
Here we've got a lentil stew.
This is that pistachio walnut herbal stew.
And then we got pure
meat over here as well.
And this is just amazing.
- Mm hmm.
- (James) Grandma is cooking up
some amazing rare Persian food.
- (Ali) yeah, really completely different.
Very different experience.
This is the wheat and milk.
- (James) Wheat and milk.
And that's going upstairs, wow.
And that's just one of five
or six different things.
Look at this it's all laid out.
All of these dishes in this
beautiful Persian village home.
And we got a lot here today.
- (Taster) yep.
- (James) We got local bread.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) It looks like
it's full of whole wheat.
- (Taster) Exactly.
- (James) And what else? We
got this lentil and milk...
- (Taster) Yeah this
is Aubergine with curd.
This is gourmet Khorasani.
- (James) The pure abgoosht.
And then we've got the rice
with wheat.
- (Taster) Yeah, wheat, yeah.
- (James) Right?
- (Taster) and this is eshkeneh.
With the white pistachio,
walnuts, spices, and onions.
- (James) oh wow.
- And mint in it.
- (James) and mint.
- This is the Koobideh.
- (James) that's the...that's
where the Koobideh--
Oh! It's a meat blanket.
And what's this here?
- This is ash reshteh.
- ash reshteh!
- Yeah!
(laughs)
- Oh!
- You love it?
- The Persian noodle dish!
The herbal noodle dish.
- (Taster) So look at
this homemade ghormeh
which is with bones.
- (James) with bones.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) The juiciest meat...
- (Taster) It's the juiciest meat ever.
- (James) ...in the world.
Cooked in its own fat.
- (Taster) Yeah, exactly.
- (James) Lets try it out.
(Laughter)
- Oh that's the most tender
meat in the world right there.
And now its time for the kabob.
- (Taster) Yeah. Go for it.
- (James) The Koobideh.
- (Taster) Take that
bread, take that Koobideh.
- Oh! Oh wow.
- It's pure lamb flavor.
- Exactly.
- Fatty, melt in your mouth.
You barely need your teeth.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- (James) and there it is right there.
Aubergine, curd, tomato, onions, mint.
I love how everything has
an herbal minty flavor.
- (Taster) Exactly yeah.
- And this is village cooking style?
- Yeah.
- (James) and you just
dip that up with bread.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) Let's try it out.
And this is next up: the eshkeneh.
- (Taster) The eshkeneh.
- (James) Which is that
pistachio, walnut, mint...
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) Sauce.
- (Taster) White pistachio, yeah.
- (James) White pistachio!
- (Taster) Yeah.
Like this.
- Oh!
- With the bread.
- Wow, that's a crispy bread.
- (Taster) yeah, crisp bread.
- (James) Oven baked.
- (Taster) Yeah.
- Oh, and then just mix it all up?
- Yeah.
- And then it soaks up the sauce...
- Yeah.
- ...and you go for it.
- Yeah.
It's really nice.
- It's really nice. It feels nutty.
- Exactly.
- And bitter.
- Yeah.
- And minty!
- Yeah.
- (James) Oh, and here's the pomegranate.
Wow that's beautiful.
Look at all the big seeds there.
- Yeah.
- (James) and everyone's
just sharing it right now.
Finishing up the meal.
It's a truly amazing place here.
The best pomegranate in the world...
- (Taster) Yeah.
- (James) ...in Iran.
That is top quality. Wow.
Nice presentation there.
Doesn't that look beautiful?
- (Taster) Yeah it does.
- (James) Let's try it out.
Oh wow. Oh, it's so juicy.
- It's good. Yeah. It is.
- Oh, it's just bursting.
- (James) Thank you, bye-bye!
- Bye, goodbye!
- (James) Bye-bye thank you!
- Got to give a big thanks to Mr. Taster
and of course Ali: Persia tour guide.
- My pleasure.
- From [Inaudible]. You guys
can check out come2persia.com
if you're thinking of coming to Iran.
They put together this
amazing itinerary for us.
It's been a life changing experience.
- Thank you.
- Got to give a big thanks.
- You're very welcome.
Thank you, thank you so much.
- Thanks a lot guys, leave
us a comment down below.
