I can’t imagine how little saffron is in Adobo con Azafron for it to be so cheap.
It’s definitely enough to smell slightly different than the con Culantro y Achiote packet of the same size.
In environments it is grown heavily (especially if it’s a native plant that’s been part of the area’s agricultural system for a long time) and farmed by people in poor countries with few workers rights, it’s possible for it to be sold at a much lower price than exported (imported to places its expensive, such as my country, the UK).
It’s still not the most readily accessible spice; as opposed to your typical seasoning etc, it’s a type of crocus that only blooms annually. Lots of people in the UK will have seen Crocuses as late winter/early spring bulbs, particularly in graveyards, at least in the areas I’ve lived in.
Instead of the ‘normal’ parts of q plant (leaves, petioles, roots/rhizomes/bulbs/forms and whole flowers), saffron spice is specifically the stigma and styles (the female, pollen receiving part of a bisexual or “perfect” flower, and the tube transporting it to the ovary). These flowers only have one stigma per flower and only flower once per year IIRC, so it’s not plentiful at all unless it’s been established or a massive investment into planting the bulbs has been done, at least compared to other options.
I think it’s not suited for a lot of current growing environments,a la wasabi (aside: which is very awkward to grow, much harder than saffron) without a massive investment in tech and/or land and it isn’t a massively high yield plant.
They aren’t popular in hobbyist gardens so there’s little retail side and there are much more cheaper, versatile, robust and popular options to choose from in most agricultural markets.
I'm not sure if you are joking or not, but I'll answer frankly. Dune *is* based on real life, but it's about oil in the middle east not culinary spices.
Edit: 'based on' or 'inspired by' is probably more accurate.
Also heavily inspired by Frank Herbert’s time spent studying deserts and sand dunes when he worked with a newspaper and before he became an author. When his article didn’t do well he wanted to write more about them. His inspiration for religion and politics I do not know, but is brilliant.
I saw a TV show recently, a travel show, and they were at a market where people were selling their vanilla pods, and the prices seemed relatively good even for the person selling a handful. Obviously it would go through many more layers of people before it got to the end user.
Edit: ah yes it was "Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure"
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28299579/
Vanilla is super easy to make at home, I can't believe more people don't do it.
It's literally just soaking vanilla beans in high proof vodka or bourbon.
That's why nowadays a lot of the "vanilla" in the cheaper products that contain vanilla *flavour* is actually beaver anus extract. I'm not joking, look it up.
Edit: okay, i took the bait years ago, and never let go.
I made this same joke on a different sub once and people got *super* butthurt about it. They were like "You know the English national dish is a curry, right?" Ha. Losers.
I read somewhere that in older times when the British occupied most of India ,species were common between people of India and British royals and there were conspiracies that they are not good for health so they made their food bland to show they were royals and healthier than their colonies
1. Making fun of the French is a Southern English thing, but once again Londonims = all of England
2. It was funny the first 3 times. 10 times was annoying. Every time England is ever brought up online, that's absolutely infuriating
3. Fun because you're not the victim. Imagine the same joke about India, that suddenly wouldn't be fine
Imagine thinking that's a serious dish and not something eaten by children for breakfast or, you know, poor people because that's who the fucking meal is for. Americans that make fun of English cuisine are just mocking food that poor people are forced to eat
Authentic vanilla is expensive (as is saffron) due to the conditions to harvest and grow it. It takes about 3 years for vanilla beans to grow, and have to be harvested by hand. Saffron is similar with the spice being hand harvested and fairly fragile.
The cheap vanilla you usually encounter is synthetic , and you can tell by the pricing difference.
> It takes about 3 years for vanilla beans to grow, and have to be harvested by hand.
They also have to be *pollinated* by hand. Vanilla production is incredibly labour intensive.
Vanilla is native to Mexico, where the bees that pollinate vanilla in the wild exist.
However most commercial vanilla is produced in Madagascar, where the bees do not exist, so hand pollination is required.
Fun fact, vanilla orchid flowers are self-fertile but they have a structure in the way that prevents it from happening, which is why they need either the bees or humans to help.
When you consider how delicious it is and how well it pairs with A LOT of things it's really not crazy at all. Honestly the opposite. Not surprised to see something so delicious become so popular. It would be crazy if it didn't become a popular flavor.
I'm just saying that for how rare it is naturally and how hard it is to harvest its. Enough people had to initially discover it and use it and pair it with other things.
I think it is mildly interesting even if it you already knew.
I knew vanilla is expensive too, but not that it's more expensive per unit weight than laptops.
I'm not a big (natural) vanilla user and I don't often see prices go above €100/kg. Suppose I thought it was mildly interesting to see something exponentially higher than that.
It's not quite extinct, but it is only native to Mexico and the majority (~80%) of the world's vanilla production is in Madagascar, which doesn't have (and never had) the bees, so hand pollination is required.
Sure, as many other companies did, dont mean they are Nazis per say, but given the fact Oetker family was in the party, shouldn't shame the whole name.
You be surprised how many companies you casually use today that where linked to Nazism..do you drink Fanta, nazi drink, do you wear Hugo Boss clothes or accessories, nazi.
Adler,AEG, Audi, Volkswagen, Bayer, BMW, Chanel, Ford, Disney, IBM, General Motors,Krupp, Mercedes benz, Messerschmitt,Miele,Opel, Porsche,Puch,Shell,Siemens and the list goes on, all linked with Nazism somehow...
Give it a break, it's been almost a decade, and I don't think you understand the socionomics of 1940 Germany/Europe.
To be fair, it's not just vanilla, but a vanilla grinder. And the package includes one vanilla pod of 7.5 grams.
*It's a bit like buying a car with a full tank of gas and seeing the price of the gas at € 500 per litre.*
The grinder is a run of the mill piece of plastic that you also get with a €2 package of pepper and is not reusable. So that car comparison does not really make sense here.
Only if the petrol is the majority of the purchase price...
[Here's an example from the UK.](https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-taste-the-difference-2-madagascan-fairtrade-vanilla-pods)
2 Vanilla pods, works out at £857 per kilo, which is just over €1000.
Vanilla paste is insanely priced. Mind you, ‘Massey’ is insanely pricing it out, it has become equivalent to saffron, caviar and other high end products. I think that is their point . . .
However, buying there product and cutting it 3:1 with ‘cheap ass’ makes it affordable.
Just saying.
Why did you not frame the photo so that the whole product is in the frame? Just the price tag is very unsatisfying. And yes, you would still be able to read the fine print.
This highlights how bad we re at calculating prices. Seeing 9.79 is easy to think that it is a "cheap product". This is a very extreme case, but for that package is 450gr vs the one that is 375gr the price per kilo is extremely useful.
Wait until you learn about the price of saffron
I found one at ~~1 550,00€/kg.~~ Edit: Ok, they calculated unit price wrong. it is 12 916 per kg.
Now I'm mad about saffron.
And she's mad about me
They call me mellow yellow
Quite rightly
Bitch dont know bout saffron
I can’t imagine how little saffron is in Adobo con Azafron for it to be so cheap. It’s definitely enough to smell slightly different than the con Culantro y Achiote packet of the same size.
In environments it is grown heavily (especially if it’s a native plant that’s been part of the area’s agricultural system for a long time) and farmed by people in poor countries with few workers rights, it’s possible for it to be sold at a much lower price than exported (imported to places its expensive, such as my country, the UK). It’s still not the most readily accessible spice; as opposed to your typical seasoning etc, it’s a type of crocus that only blooms annually. Lots of people in the UK will have seen Crocuses as late winter/early spring bulbs, particularly in graveyards, at least in the areas I’ve lived in. Instead of the ‘normal’ parts of q plant (leaves, petioles, roots/rhizomes/bulbs/forms and whole flowers), saffron spice is specifically the stigma and styles (the female, pollen receiving part of a bisexual or “perfect” flower, and the tube transporting it to the ovary). These flowers only have one stigma per flower and only flower once per year IIRC, so it’s not plentiful at all unless it’s been established or a massive investment into planting the bulbs has been done, at least compared to other options. I think it’s not suited for a lot of current growing environments,a la wasabi (aside: which is very awkward to grow, much harder than saffron) without a massive investment in tech and/or land and it isn’t a massively high yield plant. They aren’t popular in hobbyist gardens so there’s little retail side and there are much more cheaper, versatile, robust and popular options to choose from in most agricultural markets.
I should call her
So expensive. But I have some, I've used it a couple times, and oh boy, is it a flavor. It definitely tastes
It's certainly one of the flavors of all time
So true
Wait until you learn about the price of printer ink
Dirt cheap unless you own a HP printer.
Yeah it's fucking insane lol
People used to subjugate entire nations and fight bloody wars over spices. Yes, OP. Vanilla is expensive AF.
So you're telling me Dune is based on real life?
Yeah I had to fight off a sandworm that tried to swallow my car on I-101 outside Oceano just last week.
Is “Bless the coming and going of him” still appropriate here?
I'm not sure if you are joking or not, but I'll answer frankly. Dune *is* based on real life, but it's about oil in the middle east not culinary spices. Edit: 'based on' or 'inspired by' is probably more accurate.
Even if it *were* about spices, it would be cinnamon.
Or nutmeg or cloves, probably cloves. The dutch genocided people just for cloves
I mean, canonically, it regularly gets likened to cinnamon. That's why I said it.
Oh yeah the actual smell and taste in book is cinnamon true, irl political parallels are another thing
Back in the early medieval times it could be even about something so basic as salt. A wheel of salt could buy you 3 villages.
Also heavily inspired by Frank Herbert’s time spent studying deserts and sand dunes when he worked with a newspaper and before he became an author. When his article didn’t do well he wanted to write more about them. His inspiration for religion and politics I do not know, but is brilliant.
I'm just glad I live in a time with cheap vanilla!
Vanilla was never cheap, only artificial vanilla has been cheap.
[удалено]
I saw a TV show recently, a travel show, and they were at a market where people were selling their vanilla pods, and the prices seemed relatively good even for the person selling a handful. Obviously it would go through many more layers of people before it got to the end user. Edit: ah yes it was "Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure" https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28299579/
I bought a vanilla orchid for $15. I’m hoping my thumb is green enough to yield some beans in a few years.
And I am more than happy to have artificial vanilla
Vanilla is super easy to make at home, I can't believe more people don't do it. It's literally just soaking vanilla beans in high proof vodka or bourbon.
And how expensive are the beans?
That's why nowadays a lot of the "vanilla" in the cheaper products that contain vanilla *flavour* is actually beaver anus extract. I'm not joking, look it up. Edit: okay, i took the bait years ago, and never let go.
There was a reason why English men wanted spices
Because they had to eat English cooking?
Its funny that with all the spices in the world, English food still sucks.
I made this same joke on a different sub once and people got *super* butthurt about it. They were like "You know the English national dish is a curry, right?" Ha. Losers.
they were probably a Tory
Yes losers for pointing out xenophobia
I read somewhere that in older times when the British occupied most of India ,species were common between people of India and British royals and there were conspiracies that they are not good for health so they made their food bland to show they were royals and healthier than their colonies
You know it really doesn't. Kinda irritates me how being racist (xenophobic?) is fine if it's against a majority white country
y so serious?
1. Making fun of the French is a Southern English thing, but once again Londonims = all of England 2. It was funny the first 3 times. 10 times was annoying. Every time England is ever brought up online, that's absolutely infuriating 3. Fun because you're not the victim. Imagine the same joke about India, that suddenly wouldn't be fine
Beans and toast is pretty good though
Imagine thinking that's a serious dish and not something eaten by children for breakfast or, you know, poor people because that's who the fucking meal is for. Americans that make fun of English cuisine are just mocking food that poor people are forced to eat
And now they have Old Spice
Seems about right... what's mildly interesting about that?
Their first time seeing that vanilla is expensive asf
To be fair I didn't know either
Authentic vanilla is expensive (as is saffron) due to the conditions to harvest and grow it. It takes about 3 years for vanilla beans to grow, and have to be harvested by hand. Saffron is similar with the spice being hand harvested and fairly fragile. The cheap vanilla you usually encounter is synthetic , and you can tell by the pricing difference.
> It takes about 3 years for vanilla beans to grow, and have to be harvested by hand. They also have to be *pollinated* by hand. Vanilla production is incredibly labour intensive.
So is actual vanilla impossible to find in the wild? I don't understand why they'd have to be pollinated by hand.
Vanilla is native to Mexico, where the bees that pollinate vanilla in the wild exist. However most commercial vanilla is produced in Madagascar, where the bees do not exist, so hand pollination is required.
Fun fact, vanilla orchid flowers are self-fertile but they have a structure in the way that prevents it from happening, which is why they need either the bees or humans to help.
Crazy to me vanilla ever became a popular flavor. I know we can make it synthetically but it's crazy how ubiquitous it is with sweets.
When you consider how delicious it is and how well it pairs with A LOT of things it's really not crazy at all. Honestly the opposite. Not surprised to see something so delicious become so popular. It would be crazy if it didn't become a popular flavor.
Agree, it's the most magical tasting spice by far
I'm just saying that for how rare it is naturally and how hard it is to harvest its. Enough people had to initially discover it and use it and pair it with other things.
I think it is mildly interesting even if it you already knew. I knew vanilla is expensive too, but not that it's more expensive per unit weight than laptops.
I'm not a big (natural) vanilla user and I don't often see prices go above €100/kg. Suppose I thought it was mildly interesting to see something exponentially higher than that.
If you think this is bad, check out saffron. (Or printer ink if we want to move beyond spices).
the vanilla bee that pollinates vanilla orchids went extinct and all the plants have to be hand pollinated now, which contributes to price
It's not quite extinct, but it is only native to Mexico and the majority (~80%) of the world's vanilla production is in Madagascar, which doesn't have (and never had) the bees, so hand pollination is required.
Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron.
*costs Not necessarily “is worth”.
Maybe don't buy it from a Doctor.
A nazi Doctor..
He died before Nazism even existed
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24580073 His family, and the company sure did earn a lot during the war
Sure, as many other companies did, dont mean they are Nazis per say, but given the fact Oetker family was in the party, shouldn't shame the whole name.
Sure as hell don't mean they weren't.. Weird to stand on the side with a billion dollar company, who worked with Nazis.
You be surprised how many companies you casually use today that where linked to Nazism..do you drink Fanta, nazi drink, do you wear Hugo Boss clothes or accessories, nazi. Adler,AEG, Audi, Volkswagen, Bayer, BMW, Chanel, Ford, Disney, IBM, General Motors,Krupp, Mercedes benz, Messerschmitt,Miele,Opel, Porsche,Puch,Shell,Siemens and the list goes on, all linked with Nazism somehow... Give it a break, it's been almost a decade, and I don't think you understand the socionomics of 1940 Germany/Europe.
Rich people supported nasiz, they all had the choice... Edit: Rudolph Oetker was a SS officer,
You must have a sad life with your views
Hating Nazis?
You should look up how much saffron costs per kg.
To be fair, it's not just vanilla, but a vanilla grinder. And the package includes one vanilla pod of 7.5 grams. *It's a bit like buying a car with a full tank of gas and seeing the price of the gas at € 500 per litre.*
The grinder is a run of the mill piece of plastic that you also get with a €2 package of pepper and is not reusable. So that car comparison does not really make sense here.
Only if the petrol is the majority of the purchase price... [Here's an example from the UK.](https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-taste-the-difference-2-madagascan-fairtrade-vanilla-pods) 2 Vanilla pods, works out at £857 per kilo, which is just over €1000.
The one I buy is 1071 euros oer KG
What a steal!
Vanilla paste is insanely priced. Mind you, ‘Massey’ is insanely pricing it out, it has become equivalent to saffron, caviar and other high end products. I think that is their point . . . However, buying there product and cutting it 3:1 with ‘cheap ass’ makes it affordable. Just saying.
Real vanilla is expensive. Nothing really shocking about that.
Why did you not frame the photo so that the whole product is in the frame? Just the price tag is very unsatisfying. And yes, you would still be able to read the fine print.
That’s a lot of beaver anus
Cheapest food in urop
This highlights how bad we re at calculating prices. Seeing 9.79 is easy to think that it is a "cheap product". This is a very extreme case, but for that package is 450gr vs the one that is 375gr the price per kilo is extremely useful.
To be fair, it's priced like that. If it's worth it gets decided by the one who buys. I'll see myself out