Where Michelin-Starred Restaurants Get Ingredients | Business Insider Marathon
Table of contents
- Turning NYC tap water into $10 luxury ice cubes for Michelin-starred restaurants.
- Perfect ice cubes elevate cocktails, while hand-harvested sea urchins are a prized delicacy despite their abundance due to the decline in kelp forests.
- Diving for sea urchins is a high-stakes job where attention to detail can make or break your catch.
- Uni and traditional soy sauce are rare, premium products because their authentic production methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming, making them highly sought after.
- Authentic, naturally fermented soy sauce like Yu's offers a richer, balanced umami flavor that chefs love, making it worth the premium price.
- From farm to table, African caviar is making waves in Europe's top restaurants.
- From Madagascar to Michelin stars: local caviar making waves in Europe's top kitchens.
- Aged cheese and ham are worth the wait and the price, but beware of counterfeits!
- The finest Iberian ham, cured to perfection, offers a nutty, melt-in-your-mouth experience that’s worth every penny.
- In Tokyo, Crown melons are a luxury fruit costing over $200 each, grown with meticulous care in Shizuoka, Japan, and only 0.1% achieve the highest grade.
- Vanilla farming in Madagascar is a high-stakes game where farmers risk their lives to protect their crops from thieves, all while battling poverty and volatile prices.
- Vanilla farmers in Madagascar face theft, poverty, and market volatility, but cooperatives offer a lifeline by ensuring fair prices and cutting out middlemen.
- Madagascar's vanilla farmers face extreme poverty due to volatile prices, despite cooperatives like Sahala offering some stability.
- Saffron's incredible value comes from its labor-intensive cultivation and the unique, irreplaceable flavor it adds to dishes, but climate change and fraud are threatening its future.
- Pat LaFrieda turned a humble butcher shop into a $270 million meat empire by focusing on high-quality cuts and efficient delivery.
- A perfectly rested steak has no juices left on the board, that's when you know you've cooked it right.
- Pat's hands-on leadership and relentless dedication have skyrocketed the business to new heights, proving that passion and hard work fuel growth.
- Ceremonial grade matcha, painstakingly ground by hand, preserves its nutrients and delicate fragrance, making it a treasured tradition in Japan.
- Olive oil production is a blend of tradition and precision, turning olives into liquid gold in just 45 minutes.
- Extra virgin olive oil is more nutritious but has a shorter shelf life.
- From sunrise to sunset, the journey of cinnamon from tree to spice is a blend of tradition, precision, and history.
- Ceylon cinnamon is often mixed with cassia and sold as pure, but a new EU tag could help consumers identify the real deal.
- Perfect conditions and meticulous care make white flower shiitake mushrooms a $400 per kilo delicacy.
- From hand-harvesting in freezing mud flats to Michelin-starred kitchens, Jan transformed South Korea's rare seaweed into a global culinary sensation.
- Creating a market for seaweed and high-end salt is a labor of love, proving that the pursuit of deliciousness is worth every challenge.
- From office job to salt artisan, Cedri's passion for harvesting salt has turned into a lucrative craft, creating unique salts that sell for up to $420 per kilogram.
- The hunt for white truffles is a delicate dance with nature, where patience and precision can turn a rare find into a culinary treasure.
- Ancient black vinegar from Fukuyama, Japan, crafted with tradition and precision, offers a unique, milder taste and health benefits, making it a sought-after culinary gem.
- Authentic kururu vinegar and Dijon mustard are prized for their unique regional ingredients and traditional methods, making them rare and expensive.
Turning NYC tap water into $10 luxury ice cubes for Michelin-starred restaurants.
From Luxury Ice that can cost $10 per cube to Africa's finest caviar to the world's most expensive type of cinnamon, this is where Michelin-starred restaurants get their ingredients. Our first stop is New York City, where we learn how a former bartender created his own Luxury Ice Cube business.
This 300 lb block of ice is about to be turned into luxury ice cubes. 100 Weight Ice sells them to Michelin-star restaurants across New York City. They can cost up to $10 each, and last year the company sold over 3 million of them. "We're the first business in the world to focus exclusively and primarily on producing, fabricating, and delivering ice for beverages," says Richard Picato, who started the business back in 2011. He used to be a bartender and started making his own custom cubes. Customers started begging him to sell cubes directly to them. Now, he has over 300 clients across New York.
The process starts by filling up large chambers with filtered tap water, which is known as New York City's finest tap water. "Everybody knows we make the best bagels and the best ice in New York City because of the water," Richard explains. These machines, which are the same ones that ice sculptors use, cost around $99,000 each. They have specialized pumps that circulate the water, pushing out any impurities or air bubbles that could cloud the ice. It takes up to 3 days for this 300 lb block to freeze.
Then they start sawing. They use a butcher's band saw to cut the slabs down into smaller pieces. On a typical day, they'll cut over 10,000 cubes. Rundo Duron is one of 15 employees working for Richard. He's been here since 5:00 a.m., sawing cubes in near-freezing temperatures. "You know, the research says you stay in the cold longer, the younger you look. You wear the proper attire, you don't feel it. I have two jackets on, two pairs of sweatpants. I've been working in a fridge for about 4 years now. It becomes a habit to come in and not really feel anything," he shares.
The final step is to cut the ice into its correct shape. The most popular cut is a clear 2x2 inch cube, which typically goes for 60 cents each. Custom cubes with engravings or flowers inside start at $180 per cube. Spheres start at $3; they're harder to make because they're carved one at a time with a custom machine and they melt more slowly. The most expensive ice of all usually includes a combination of elements like a unique shape plus engraving, which can cost as much as $10 a piece. Next, workers package and load them into climate-controlled delivery trucks. In a typical week, they deliver 20,000 lb of ice to clients.
"It's like playing Tetris," says one worker. "It literally is, in terms of me trying to maximize all the space in the van. I pretty much know every single corner, what specific bags I can fit on, how many on this shelf, how many on that shelf. It's something that definitely keeps me entertained."
The Michelin-starred Musket Room buys more than 100 cubes a week from Richard's business. "To maintain a Michelin star for 11 years, you have to really care about every part of the experience, and that goes from service to what we're serving to people. Our kitchen really values getting quality, seasonal ingredients, and we really care about that behind the bar too. The bigger the cube, the slower it's going to melt. When you're designing a cocktail, you think a lot about dilution before and during the experience of the cocktail. So having good draft ice and good ice to serve cocktails on is really crucial. The benefit of buying ice from 100 Weight is you get a really clear and really perfect cube that's very hard to do on your own, so it helps simplify and saves us a lot of time," they explain.
Richard says he'd like to expand his business beyond New York, but for now, he's content. "I think that in a city of 8.2 million people that I've always called home, this is more than enough."
Next, we head to California, where sea urchins are harvested by hand for Michelin-star restaurants. About 20,000 lb of sea urchins are delivered to this Santa Barbara factory each week, but it's not until you crack open the spiky shells that you see what makes sea urchins so special.
Perfect ice cubes elevate cocktails, while hand-harvested sea urchins are a prized delicacy despite their abundance due to the decline in kelp forests.
Dilution during the experience of the cocktail is crucial, so having good draft ice and good ice to serve cocktails on is really essential. The benefit of buying ice from 100 Way is that you get a really clear and perfect cube, which is very hard to do on your own. It helps simplify the process and saves a lot of time. Richard says he'd like to expand his business beyond New York, but for now, he's content. He believes that in a city of 8.2 million people that he's always called home, this is more than enough.
Next, we head to California where sea urchins are harvested by hand for Michelin star restaurants. About 20,000 lb of sea urchins are delivered to this Santa Barbara factory each week. However, it's not until you crack open the spiky shells that you see what makes sea urchins so valuable—the gonads. Just one 200 g tray of urchin gonads can cost $100, and some in Japan can sell for over five times that amount. Sea urchins are one of the few seafoods still hand-harvested by divers today. In recent years, masses of them have taken over the seabeds of California. Despite this seemingly huge supply, they remain expensive. Sea urchin roe, or uni, is a prized delicacy in several parts of the world today. The yellow-orange gonads are often served in sushi and even right out of the shell. Hundreds of urchin species exist, but only a select few are coveted as food, including the Red Sea urchin here in Santa Barbara, known as California gold. These gonads are prized because they're large, buttery, and sweet from the kelp they eat. To find gonads like this, divers need to collect individual sea urchins by hand.
Michael Robertson has been diving for urchins for 15 years. He starts his days early, sailing out before the sun rises. It takes him and his crew about 2 and 1/2 hours to reach a good diving spot. "See that little island up there? That's called B Rock. That's where we're going," he says. The green on top of the red indicates vegetation, which is a good sign that it's not sand or bare rock. More kelp typically means better quality urchins. In 2010, on a good day, a diver could harvest maybe up to 2,000 lb a day of good quality sea urchins. Now, divers typically come in with about 3 to 500 lb a day—a quarter of the amount. Surprisingly, parts of California's seabeds are full of urchins. If they wanted to, they could still bring in 2,000 lb a day, but there's a lack of kelp. Even if they bring in 2,000 lb, if they're not marketable, they don't harvest them. Comparing how it was to how it is now, there used to be solid kelp from one point to another, but now there are just little pockets here and there. This lack of kelp impacts the value of Red Sea urchins and strains the ocean's ecosystem and the species that rely on kelp forests for habitat.
Along with warming waters and pollution in recent decades, a certain sea urchin is to blame. Sea urchins can survive for years without eating, even without gonads. After the decline of sea stars, one of its predators, in 2013, the purple sea urchin population exploded, consuming more than 95% of California's kelp forests as it grew. Purple urchins are smaller and produce fewer gonads, so there's little commercial demand for them. As purple urchins multiply and eat more kelp, red urchins with good gonads become harder for divers to find. Finding the right spot to dive is just the first challenge; getting your hands on these spiky creatures is the main one. Some people wonder if sea urchin diving is a dangerous occupation. It can be as dangerous as you allow it to be. If you don't keep tight tabs on your gear and the mechanics of your boat, it could easily kill you.
To make the job easier, Michael and his partner Fred need specific tools. "This is the one essential piece of equipment everybody has to have; it's called a rake. It's custom-made, and everybody has their own take on how they like to have it done. I've got all these fancy colors on mine because if I ever drop it, I'll be able to see it on the bottom, and my daughter loves putting the tape on," Michael explains. Once they're suited up, Michael and Fred head to the bottom and begin collecting urchins one by one.
Diving for sea urchins is a high-stakes job where attention to detail can make or break your catch.
Spiky creatures are the main focus. Some people wonder if sear and diving is a dangerous occupation. It can be as dangerous as you allow it; if you don't keep really tight tabs on your gear and the mechanics of your boat, it could easily kill you. To make the job easier, Michael and his partner Fred need specific equipment. This is the one essential piece of equipment everybody has to have: it's called a rake. It's custom-made, and everybody has their own take on how they like to have it done. Michael has all these fancy colors on his because if he ever drops it, he'll be able to see it on the bottom, and his daughter loves putting the tape on.
Once they're suited up, Michael and Fred head to the bottom and begin collecting urchins one by one. Even with the proper gear, a good dive is never a guarantee. Typically, there are only about five gonads inside each urchin, and without enough kelp for the urchins to feed on, the gonads start to shrivel up. In some cases, an urchin will be totally empty inside. They crack urchins on the bottom to see what they're picking, checking if there's enough product inside and what the color is like. To make things more challenging, Michael can only harvest urchins at least 3 and 1/4 inches in size. You can't just go out and pick empty urchins, so there are a lot more empty urchins than there are beautiful packed urchins that you want to sell. Depending on what they're eating, the grade of the urchin varies.
After a 12-hour day to the islands and back, Michael returns with 750 to 900 pounds of urchins. The shelf life of fresh urchins is short, so they need to be delivered to processors that same night. By 4:00 a.m., Gan Dei's team is already cracking and cleaning each one by hand. Today, they probably have about 10,000 sea urchins to go through. The gonads are extremely fragile and only stay fresh for about a week. Workers crack each urchin down the middle to avoid breaking any of the gonads inside. Then it's time for one of the most crucial parts of this process: cleaning the gonads. This stage requires sharp attention to detail. If workers don't totally remove the intestines inside the urchin, the gonads degrade faster. If any of the gonads rip during this process, they immediately drop in value. The gonad breaks, then it drops a grade or two, and when it goes from an A++ grade to a B- grade, the value is maybe about a quarter of what it could have been.
Workers then sort the gonads by color, making sure each tray has a uniform shade of yellow or orange. After they've packed each wooden tray, they use tweezers to inspect each gonad again and gently remove any remaining kelp, shells, or spines. The most valuable gonads make up the A++ grade. Jean sells a 200-gram premium tray like this for $100. These gonads are bright yellow or orange and come only from the sweeter male urchins. They're primarily sent to restaurants, but Jean doesn't come by this quality of gonad often; he typically only finds one premium gonad out of every 100 urchins.
Sea urchins weren't always valuable food in the US, particularly in the 70s, just before Jean's father opened Tradewind. The government used to ask the local divers to smash them and kill them until a Japanese person came along and said this is actually a delicacy in Japan. After many trials and errors, they found out that Santa Barbara urchin is actually really good, one of the best in the world. Santa Barbara urchin was traditionally shipped to Japan until an economic collapse stalled things in the mid-90s. Fortunately for Jean's family and other US producers, a sushi boom took off in the US around the same time. Those who were able to make the transition from the Japanese market into the US domestic market survived.
Today, Jean ships his product across the US. Uni is one of the few seafood items that they haven't perfected farming yet. Until somebody figures that out, uni is probably going to be a limited, highly sought-after item. This ultimately raises the price of rare premium gonads. This year, they're actually seeing good quality, high-quality uni that they haven't seen in about a decade. They're seeing a lot more colder waters and starting to see kelp grow back.
Uni and traditional soy sauce are rare, premium products because their authentic production methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming, making them highly sought after.
Traditionally, Jean's family and other US producers shipped their products to Japan until the economic collapse stalled things in the mid-90s. Fortunately, a sushi boom took off in the US around the same time. Those of us that were able to make the transition from the Japanese Market into the US domestic Market survived at the time. Today, Jean ships his product across the US. Uni is one of the few seafood out there that they really haven't perfected farming yet. Until somebody figures that out, uni is probably going to be a limited, highly sought-after item, which ultimately raises the price of rare premium gonads. This year, we're actually seeing a good quality, high-quality uni that we haven't seen in about a decade. We're seeing a lot more colder waters, and we're starting to see kelp grow back where it hasn't grown back in the last 10 years.
Only 1% of Japan's soy sauce is made through the traditional method of barrel aging, and you can find it in just a few Michelin restaurants around the world. What makes the soy sauce special is the wooden barrel called kioke, which can last for over a century. Yuo makes bamboo strips to wrap around the barrel because the saltiness of the soy sauce can corrode metal. It takes at least three people to assemble one barrel, but not many do this anymore after modern machinery took over the market. Almost all kioke makers in Japan went out of business, so Yuo learned to make his own.
Before these barrels are put to use, crushed wheat and steamed soybeans are mixed with Koji, the fungus that will kickstart the fermentation process. This giant vat regulates temperature so the fungus can grow. After two days, the mixture goes to the moromi house. This is where the wooden barrels help create the breeding ground for the bacteria. Over one ton of the soybean mixture fills each barrel along with saltwater. While Yuo and his team stir, the soybeans bump up against each other and create tiny tears so that other bacteria can get in and start to break them down. The workers pump air into the barrel to make the aerobic yeast more active. Even though Yuo says the microbes do most of the work, his part of the job is still demanding.
Yuo checks on the soybeans every day to see if they need mixing. Based on their scent and appearance, he can tell where they are in the process. The soybeans will ferment here for at least a year and a half. Yuo has 87 barrels in different phases. He believes a good barrel is one that will outlive him. These types of barrels have been in production in Japan since at least the 17th century, but everything changed during World War II when materials became more scarce and expensive in Japan. The government knew its people couldn't live without their staple seasoning, so they ordered factories to make production cheaper and faster, cutting the process from years to months. While many brewers expanded and modernized, small businesses like Yuo's family could barely keep up.
Yuo stepped in in 2003, just before his father suddenly became sick and had to retire. He had to take over and pull a struggling business out of debt. He also had to teach himself a lot of the process, like how to use the press. After a year and a half of fermentation, Yuo pipes the soybean mixture into this machine. He layers on a piece of traditional wrapping cloth, then the machine slowly squeezes out the soy sauce over ten days. Some industrial factories press it all at once, but Yuo says getting a quality product is all about patience. After this stage, some of the soy sauce goes back into the barrel with more soybeans and wheat for two more years to make Yuo's main product, Sai, a darker, stronger-tasting soy sauce. When the microbes have enough time to naturally ferment the soybeans, it gives the soy sauce a sweeter aftertaste. Some industrial brands mimic this by adding sweeteners.
That balanced umami flavor is what chefs like Itoshi Kishimoto are after. He's been running his restaurant Kyomi in Shodoshima for five years. For almost every dish, he cooks with naturally fermented soy sauce, including Yuo's brand. In order for traditional soy sauce to continue, barrel production needs to keep up. That's why Yuo holds barrel-making workshops every year. He sells his authentic soy sauce to people all over the world.
Authentic, naturally fermented soy sauce like Yu's offers a richer, balanced umami flavor that chefs love, making it worth the premium price.
To make Yu's main product, Sai, a darker and stronger tasting soy sauce, the microbes need enough time to naturally ferment the soybeans. This natural fermentation process gives the soy sauce a sweeter aftertaste. Some industrial brands mimic this by adding sweeteners. That balanced Umami flavor is what chefs like Itoshi Kishimoto are after. Kishimoto has been running his restaurant Kyomi in Shodoshima for 5 years, and for almost every dish, he cooks with naturally fermented soy sauce, including Yu's brand.
In order for traditional soy sauce to continue, barrel production needs to keep up. That's why Yu holds barrel-making workshops every year. He sells his authentic soy sauce to people all over the world. A bottle goes for $35 on Amazon, around triple the price of a commercial alternative. For Yu, passing down the legacy of barrel-aged soy sauce is part of his life's mission.
This is the first caviar produced in Africa, from the highlands of Madagascar. The company Asa Pencer harvests 10 tons of the expensive fish eggs a year. In 2009, French entrepreneurs took a massive gamble building a luxury industry in one of the world's poorest countries. Huge sturgeon farms in China and Europe dominate the market, producing most of the world's caviar. But the company's founders were determined to raise fish for their black gold in the country they had called home since the 1990s. Now, their products are making their way into Michelin-starred kitchens in Europe.
So how did Asa Pencer convince Malagasy locals on a luxury industry, and how did they get customers from around the world to take a chance on African caviar? Traditional caviar can only come from sturgeon, which are native to the Northern Hemisphere. Many of the most popular species come from the Caspian Sea, where waters can be much colder than Madagascar. That's why the founders raised their fish in Lake Monua, about 1,400 meters above sea level. The team spent months crossing thousands of miles in search of tempered waters like this. The lake rarely tops 25°C, giving this farm an advantage. While sturgeon in the Caspian Sea might grow slower during cold winters and hot summers, the company says fish here mature year-round thanks to these moderate temperatures.
The whole process starts in the hatchery, where they care for thousands of baby fish until they're mature enough for the lake. Sturgeon are notoriously tricky and expensive to raise compared to other farm fish like salmon. Sturgeon need a long time to grow; they can take a decade to mature, while a salmon only needs 3 years. So operating a sturgeon farm could cost five times more than a salmon one. The team's first hurdle was keeping the fertilized sturgeon eggs alive along thousands of miles to Madagascar. They failed four times trying to import them from France and Russia, but the fifth time was the charm. The company imported 35,000 healthy sturgeon eggs back in 2013.
That's Delphie Dai, one of Asa's founders. Nearly a decade later, they've grown their fish population to over 60,000 and they raise six different species, one of which was thought to be extinct. Only female sturgeon produce caviar, so once they're big enough, the team separates them by sex. The females head to the farm with 16 hectares of pens, giving the fish room to move. That's B, the farm's breeding manager. They use three nets to contain the fish in the pens: one where the fish live, an extra net in case they escape, and a net on top to hold back birds.
Ten full-time weavers make and mend the nets on site. It takes 31 meters of rope and a month of weaving to make just one net. Asa Pencer has hired and trained 300 Malagasy workers, and the company says it pays three times the minimum wage. A team heads out to feed the fish five days a week. First, crews test the water; when there's enough oxygen, they can start adding feed. That's so the food will sink to the bottom where the sturgeon eat. The company produces about 60 tons of feed a month, made from a base of fish meal and vegetable meal like soybean or rice bran, yeast, and water. If the fish aren't fed the right thing, Joel says they could take twice as long to grow.
From farm to table, African caviar is making waves in Europe's top restaurants.
Nets on site take 31 meters of rope and a month of weaving to make just one net. ASAP Pensar has hired and trained 300 Malaysian workers. The company says it pays three times the minimum wage.
A team heads out to feed the fish five days a week. First, crews test the water; when there's enough oxygen, they can start adding feed. This ensures the food will sink to the bottom where the sturgeon eat. The company produces about 60 tons of feed a month, made from a base of fish meal and vegetable meal like soybean or rice bran, yeast, and water. If the fish aren't fed the right thing, Joles says they could take twice as long to grow.
The company spends over $130,000 a month on feed alone. ASAP Pensar makes the food on site and sources about 80% of its ingredients from nearby farms. AR manages the feed mill, where his team grinds all the raw materials into powder. Machines then cook and shape the feed into granules. The recipe and size of the pellets change based on the age of the fish. Feed is such a big expense for ASAP Pensar because the fish eat so much of it. While the sturgeon feed, there's always a diver watching below the surface to see how quickly the fish eat and how deep they go.
Every few months, Joles' team pulls fish out of the water. He checks for roe in the sturgeon using an ultrasound machine. These fish were born in 2017. He measures the roe to help determine which fish need more time to develop their eggs. They isolate the fish that need a few more years to mature. These females are Persian sturgeon, and they'll spend the last few weeks of their lives in cold pools. These species can be harvested young, at only seven years old. This sturgeon weighs 16 kilos, but they can go up to 20 kilos. The valuable roe makes up about a fourth of its body weight.
M Salama worked as a cook before joining ASAP Pensar, but the roe isn't finished caviar just yet. Workers run the eggs over a sieve to separate them from the fish's innards, then wash the eggs to remove any leftover bits. These workers spread the roe out so they can see any misshapen or discolored eggs that need to be removed. Now they race against the clock to salt the roe in a minute; any less time and the eggs won't have a consistent salty taste. The salt, along with four months of aging in these fridges, helps develop the caviar's nutty flavor.
A kilo of roe caviar can go for over $5,000, a cost on par with European brands. ASAP Pensar exports 90% of its caviar to Europe, but it's up against stiff competition. China is Europe's biggest supplier, raising sturgeon on massive farms 3,500 times larger than ASAP Pensar. Since 2014, China has been selling the most expensive caviar, the kind harvested from Beluga sturgeons, seen here at a farm in Florida. But ASAP Pensar is still years away from harvesting its first Beluga roe because it takes nearly double the amount of time to raise the high-priced fish compared to other sturgeon species. Until then, ASAP Pensar is trying to sell the caviar types that are ready. The company has opened offices in Paris, Brussels, and New York City in hopes of hooking Western markets on African caviar.
The team has already managed to convince chefs at some of Europe's top restaurants. Boris Compella is the executive chef of Le Crillon, a Michelin-starred restaurant. He was one of the first chefs in Paris to put roe on the menu back in 2019. For his dishes of torch shrimp, lamb tartar, and ceviche with roe caviar, like this dish of balone with brown butter, Boris isn't the only chef who stocks these tins. About 15 restaurants across Europe now serve roe. The company's success abroad has...
From Madagascar to Michelin stars: local caviar making waves in Europe's top kitchens.
African caviar has already managed to convince chefs at some of Europe's top restaurants. Boris Compella, the executive chef of Le Crillon, a Michelin-starred restaurant, was one of the first chefs in Paris to put Rova caviar on the menu back in 2019. He uses it in dishes such as torch shrimp, lamb tartar, and ceviche with Rova caviar, as well as in a dish of balone with brown butter. Boris isn't the only chef who stocks these tins; about 15 restaurants across Europe now serve Rova. The company's success abroad has allowed it to invest back into Madagascar. ASAP Pencer started by training locals and providing housing for its workers. The housing site includes amenities such as a grocery store, a mini theater, a gym, and three meals a day, with most of the employees' food grown on site.
This small region in Italy is the only place in the world that makes authentic Parmesan Reggiano cheese. Here's how it gets from Italy to restaurants worldwide. The very first producers of Parmesan cheese were monks over a thousand years ago. Then, like now, Parmesan wheels were made with only three ingredients: cow milk, salt, and rennet. There are only 329 dairies in the whole world certified to produce Parmesan cheese, and they are all based in the same area where the monks used to make it. It turns out it's all about three good bacteria that only grow in this specific territory.
It takes 131 gallons of milk to make one wheel of Parmesan cheese. Dairies combine freshly milked whole milk with day-old skim milk to make the cheese. The two milks are transferred into copper vats along with fermented whey, a sort of sourdough, and then rennet, an enzyme that gives the milk a yogurt-like texture. The cheese master then splits the milk into curds using a tool called spino. Cooking the milk ensures that only the good bacteria can continue the journey, while the bad bacteria are eliminated. Once cooked, the curd travels to the bottom of the vat, where it is left to settle. After 45 minutes, it forms a compact mass of curd weighing 220 pounds, which is the equivalent of two cheese wheels.
This mass is carefully split by workers with linen cloths and transferred into molds. At 8:00 p.m., the cheese is covered with a stencil that engraves the logo Parmesan Reggiano. These dots are the mark of origin, used to tell customers that this is the real thing made in the same restricted area where monks used to live in the Middle Ages. Each wheel is also given an ID, a plate made from milk protein containing information about where and when it was produced. The stencil is removed four days later, and the wheels are placed into brine baths where they stay completely submerged for about 19 days. This process helps form the cheese rind, which acts as a barrier for the cheese, and marks the beginning of the maturation process.
Wheels remain relatively untouched for one year. After that, a master grader inspects them and brands them. The average maturation period is two years, but some wheels are aged as long as ten years to achieve a stronger, nuttier taste. A longer maturation period increases the price, making the cheese more valuable.
Aged cheese and ham are worth the wait and the price, but beware of counterfeits!
The cheese wheels are produced and, when the stencil is removed four days later, the wheels are praised into BRS where they stay completely plunged for about 19 days. This process helps to form the cheese rind, which acts as a barrier for the cheese, and this is when the maturation process begins.
The wheels remain relatively untouched for one year. After that, a master grer will inspect them and brand them. The average maturation is two years, but some wheels are aged as long as ten years to achieve a stronger natier taste. A longer maturation period makes the price go higher. That's why a very old parmesan that has matured for three years will be sold on the market for an average of €13, which is about $15 US per pound. This high price means that there is now a black market of counterfeit parmesan products. Italy has been struggling with fake products for years. In fact, the problem is so big that the fakes have become an industry of their own, estimated to be worth €100 billion, which is about $13 billion US dollars. Parano Reano is one of the biggest brands fighting copycats. While the cheese is protected in the European Union under the protected designation of origin scheme, it is still struggling to get the recognition it deserves in the rest of the world.
So how do you recognize real parmesan cheese? Do you remember this DOTA stencil? That's a solid indication that the cheese is legit. If that's not visible, the packaging should contain Parano Reano's official logo and they use protected designation of origin.
Iberian ham is the world's most expensive cured meat and it's served at Michelin-starred restaurants across the globe. The reason why it's so prestigious is actually standing behind me. I don't know if you can see, but there are some pigs behind me and they are of this special breed called the black Iberian pigs. During their life, they feed mostly on acorns, which are very present in the Sierra here, and that's what gives this ham such a special flavor. So today we're going to visit a ham factory to learn more about how the actual ham is made, and then we're going to talk about how it's cut, how it's served, and taste it to see why it is so special.
Black Iberian pigs descend from wild boars and have been considered a delicacy since long before our times. In the year 77, Roman writer Pliny the Elder praised their superior quality. In 1493, when he sailed across the Atlantic for the second time, Christopher Columbus had Iberian pigs aboard his caravel. The most expensive of them all sells for $44,100, which is over $4,500. Despite the high price, this ham remains a local favorite. Black Iberian pigs can be found in the southern and western regions of the Iberian Peninsula, which comprises Spain and Portugal. In Spain, ham production is confined to the provinces of Salamanca, Huelva, Cordoba, Cáceres, and Badajoz. Portugal also produces it under the name presunto ibero. Spanish Iberian ham is protected by the protected designation of origin. The five Spanish provinces where it is produced are split into four different protected designations of origin. Out of the total production of Iberian ham, only 6% comes with a black label indicating it's the 100% Iberian pure breed.
Iberian pigs are raised in an ecosystem known as the dehesa. The pigs live in the wild, roaming freely in the dehesa. Per regulations, there shouldn't be more than two pigs per hectare of grassland. The dehesa is rich in olives, nuts, and berries, but especially in acorns called bellotas in Spanish, which are rich in nutrients and fatty acids, basically a superfood for pigs.
After learning all about the black Iberian pig and why it's such a special pig and different from any other breed, we are at a local company here in Cortana Lazo to find out about the making process of the hams. Ham comes from the rear leg of the pig. Most companies would also cure the front leg, called paleta, and use the rest of the meat for other products like chorizo. Lazo stores over 150,000 legs in its cellars. Some of the hams made here come from an even rarer breed of the Iberian pig, the Manchado de Jabugo, which has black patches on its skin and can only be found in the Sierra de Huelva. The pigs are killed when they're 15 months old. The hams and paletas are then buried in salt for 15 to 20 days, depending on their size.
The finest Iberian ham, cured to perfection, offers a nutty, melt-in-your-mouth experience that’s worth every penny.
After learning all about the Black Iberian Pig and why it's such a special breed, we visited a local company in Cortana Lazo to understand the ham-making process. Ham comes from the rear leg of the pig, while most companies also cure the front leg, called paletta, and use the rest of the meat for other products like chiso. Lasso stores over 150,000 legs in its cellars. Some of the hams made here come from an even rarer breed of the Iberian Pig, the Manado de Habo, which has black patches on its skin and can only be found in the Sierra de Wva. The pigs are killed when they're 15 months old, and the hams and palettas are then buried in salt for 15 to 20 days depending on their weight.
After salting, the process starts to gradually slow down. The legs spend about 2 months in a temperature-controlled room, then they're moved to an airy room for 6 to 9 months. The final stage of curing, and also the longest, is the one in cellars. On average, an Iberian ham needs a couple of years to reach its peak flavor, but some legs can cure for much longer. To get a better understanding of how Iberian ham is labeled on the market, we visited Productos Deierra, a shop in Seville that sources local products from Andalusia and no farther than 250 kilometers.
Max explained how to identify a good ham: it needs to be soft, and the fat should melt with a little bit of temperature. Iberian ham is carved using a specific technique that can take a lot of time to learn. One of the highest grades, 100% Iberico, is cut in a divine shape, unlike the long, sad slices we're used to. The room smells so nice, and the ham is shiny. The taste is astonishingly not salty, even though salt is a main stage of the production. The flavor is nutty, tracing back to the acorns the pigs ate. The fat is very nice and greasy, adding a buttery texture, and the marbling is excellent because these pigs are smaller and have more muscles in their legs rather than fat. The ham is very tender and has a distinct flavor compared to other hams.
Switching gears to another luxury product, melons in Japan are also a serious business. The fruit isn't traditionally something you'd pick up as a snack but is a luxury that plays a big part in Japan's gift-giving culture. They're admired not just for their taste but for their looks as well. Crown melons are one of the most renowned varieties. In high-end fruit stores in Tokyo, you're likely to see their signature stickers. These melons are only grown in Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan and can cost over $200 each. Unlike the $5 mass-produced melons in Western supermarkets, Crown melons require constant care and attention to grow.
For Mio Shi Chuu's family, which has been growing these melons for 60 years, each melon takes 100 days to grow and is cultivated all year round. There are 20 slightly different varieties of Crown melon seeds grown depending on the season.
In Tokyo, Crown melons are a luxury fruit costing over $200 each, grown with meticulous care in Shizuoka, Japan, and only 0.1% achieve the highest grade.
In a fruit store in Tokyo, you're likely to see their signature stickers. The melons are only grown in Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan and can cost you over $200 each. Unlike the $5 mass-produced melons you're likely to come across in a western supermarket, Crown melons take constant care and attention to grow. For Mioshi Chuu's family, growing these melons has been a tradition for 60 years at their farm.
The farmers give the melons constant attention and care. Each melon takes 100 days to grow, and the fruit is grown all year round. There are 20 slightly different varieties of crown melon seeds grown depending on the season. The raised beds allow the farmers to control the amount of water each plant gets exactly, and air conditioning and heating keep the temperatures constant year-round. Crown melons have four grades: Fuji, Yam, Shiro, and Yuki. Any melons with even minor defects are marked as Yuki. The top three grades are marked on their sugar content and perfect appearance. 55% of the melons make Shiro grade (the third grade), 25% are Yam, and only 0.1% or 1 in a thousand of all melons harvested are graded as Fuji, the highest grade possible.
After around 50 days, the plants begin to flower, and baby fruits start to appear, but the hard work has only just begun. This work is all done entirely by hand, and it isn't just about getting the taste right but perfecting the appearance too. As the fruits get larger on each plant, they are carefully wrapped in white paper to protect them. Once this net pattern has developed, each melon is even massaged and polished by hand. It is then covered to protect it from the sun for its final growing period. The farmers can wear through multiple pairs of white gloves polishing these melons.
The reason why the melons are so expensive is that each farmer has to take care very carefully. Even one mistake in the amount of water on one day can make the melon deteriorate. They have to take care every day, every time, and they monitor the weather and temperature, almost talking with each melon tree about how they are each day. They grow the melon like their sons or daughters.
The work of the Agricultural Cooperatives also keeps their prices high. The Shizuoka Crown Melon Company oversees the distribution and checks on melons from over 200 farmers. They ensure that the quality remains high and that the prices aren't undercut. The resulting taste is undeniably incredible; each fruit has a complex balance of flavors and is perfectly juicy and sweet. However, you'll have to decide for yourself whether the high price is worth it for the taste. Despite the cost, there's a big market for these fruits across Japan. Consumers are willing to pay to ensure that their gift is perfect, especially knowing the work that has gone into producing them. The melons are often sold in individual presentation boxes, sitting on silk or hay, or tied with a ribbon. When choosing the perfect gift, the high price is often seen as a signifier of quality.
At the start of the season, the perfect first fruits are auctioned off and are often sought after as a trophy for local businesses to bid on. A new record is set for the sale of these fruits almost every year, and it doesn't look like their price is going down anytime soon.
Meanwhile, vanilla is the world's second most expensive spice. The East African island of Madagascar produces roughly 80% of the global supply. Here, farmers have to pollinate 40 million orchids that only bloom for one day a year. Only then will a vanilla bean or pod grow, inside which are the seeds and oils used in popular desserts. However, Madagascar is still one of the poorest countries in the world. The volatility of vanilla prices creates a toxic environment where farmers can earn more when the price of vanilla is high, but rampant inflation often follows.
Vanilla farming in Madagascar is a high-stakes game where farmers risk their lives to protect their crops from thieves, all while battling poverty and volatile prices.
Vanilla is an expensive spice, with the East African island of Madagascar producing roughly 80% of the global supply. Here, farmers have to pollinate 40 million orchids that only bloom for one day a year. Only then will a vanilla bean or pod grow, containing the seeds and oils used in popular desserts. Despite this, Madagascar remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The volatility of vanilla prices creates a toxic environment; farmers can earn more when prices are high, but rampant inflation often follows. The high prices also attract thieves who attack farmers and steal crops. Today, farmers arm themselves to defend their vanilla. When prices are low, farmers can plunge into extreme poverty. The government has tried to stabilize the price, but it has backfired, and now global customers are turning to other countries for cheaper vanilla. As locals fight to protect Madagascar's green gold, they worry about how much more the land and this crop can take.
Raza Salama grew up on a vanilla farm and seven years ago bought a hectare of land for himself. Vanilla is an orchid that grows on a vine and thrives in a rainforest environment with plenty of rain and sunlight. However, vanilla isn't native to Madagascar; it originates from Central and South America. Indigenous groups like the Totonac and later the Aztecs cultivated native vanilla for centuries, thanks to the insect Orchid bees needed to pollinate the vanilla flower, allowing a fruit or pod to grow. After Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs, he brought vanilla back to Spain in the 1520s. It became popular across Europe in desserts like ice cream, crème brûlée, and sweet meats, which Queen Elizabeth I loved. However, the Spanish controlled the trade, so other European countries tried cultivating vanilla on their own but failed due to the absence of the pollinating bee.
In 1841, on the French-controlled island of Réunion, a 12-year-old boy named Edmond Albius discovered that the orchid could pollinate itself if he moved aside the membrane separating the male and female parts. Albius was born into slavery, and even after being freed in 1848, he never made money off his discovery and died in poverty 32 years later. France took Albius's work and started growing vanilla on the French-ruled island right next door, Madagascar. It thrived there because the growing conditions were perfect. Today, in towns like Rapin Salas, almost everyone works in the vanilla industry, and they still hand-pollinate every orchid just like Albius did nearly 200 years ago. Each flower blooms for just one day a year.
Raza Salama works alone and can pollinate up to 500 orchids a day. It takes about nine months for a pod to grow. The price of vanilla beans has skyrocketed in recent years due to rising demand and the destruction of crops by cyclones. In 2018, vanilla hit a high of nearly $600 per kilo, more than the value of silver. It has since dropped to $250 a kilo, but that's still a lot, and those prices are very attractive to thieves. Many farmers in the region are arming themselves and patrolling their fields at night when thieves usually strike. Thieves stole 20 kg of farmer Berlin Ronner's harvest, leaving his vines bare. In 2018, officials estimated that 10% of the year's harvest was lost to theft. Farmers often sleep out in their fields overnight because they only get one vanilla harvest annually. Some of the thieves are actually children driven to steal because of poverty. They are held in overcrowded and unhygienic prisons in the northeast of the country for years without trial. Farmers have started branding their vanilla beans with identifying codes, making the crops easier to track if they do get stolen. Another protective measure some farmers take is picking their beans before they're completely ripe to beat thieves to the harvest, which unfortunately lowers the quality of the vanilla.
Vanilla farmers in Madagascar face theft, poverty, and market volatility, but cooperatives offer a lifeline by ensuring fair prices and cutting out middlemen.
In 2018, officials estimated that 10% of the year's harvest was lost to theft. Farmers face significant challenges, as they only get one vanilla harvest annually. Some of the thieves are actually children driven to steal because of poverty. These children were held in overcrowded and unhygienic prisons in the northeast of the country for years without trial. To combat theft, farmers have started branding their vanilla beans with identifying codes, making the crops easier to track if they do get stolen. Another protective measure is that some farmers pick their beans before they're completely ripe to beat thieves to harvest, although this reduces the quality of the vanilla.
This year, R. Salama was able to wait until his beans were completely mature. Farmers have to move quickly because the pods start fermenting immediately once they're picked. They pack the vanilla pods in 40 lb bags and haul the loads for miles along dirt roads to the market. Traditionally, middlemen called commission bought these beans in their raw green state and held a lot of negotiating power over the farmers since the beans spoil quickly. The middlemen are definitely making a lot more money, as they can dictate prices. Consequently, some years farmers walk away happy, while in other years they can barely make ends meet. Farmers have said things like, "You have to have courage to plant vanilla because it may not be worth it at the end; you may not get anything."
Nowadays, Raza Salama sells his pods directly to a cooperative called Sahala. Sahala representatives check the bean quality and the brand on the bean and pay the farmers directly in cash, cutting out the middleman and promising a consistent price. Today, R. Salama earns about $17 for a kilo of raw green vanilla. Sahala takes the beans to one of its processing facilities, employing thousands of workers across Madagascar. However, even these large operations still have to protect against thieves. The facility has electric fences, surveillance cameras, and private security patrolling at night.
It will still be another three months of painstaking work before the vanilla is export-ready. First, workers have to sort the beans by quality and size. Next, they wash each bean to remove any impurities. Then, the beans get dunked in hot water to release the compound vanillin, which creates the distinct vanilla flavor. The beans need less than a minute in the hot water, depending on how ripe they are. Workers move the cooked beans to boxes where they'll sit for 48 hours. When they take the beans out, they'll be brown.
The beans will stay in these boxes for 15 to 30 days, depending on the moisture inside. In the packaging room, workers massage the beans to release the oils and the vanilla fragrance, being careful not to damage the beans. They group the pods in bunches and check that there are no stray metals like nails hidden inside. Workers then weigh the boxes and package them for shipping. Sahala's vanilla beans end up with American-based food processor Archer Daniels Midland. Exporters like Sahala earn the biggest bucks, with the cooperative having a turnover of $40 million annually. This is because cured beans are worth a lot more. Today, Sahala earns $250 per kilo for its cured vanilla, a 1300% increase from what R. Salama made selling his raw beans.
The bigger problem is the volatility of the price. In those low-price years, farmers live in extreme poverty, like 81% of the country, many earning just $2 a day. To supplement their incomes, many farmers grow other crops like vegetables and peanuts. During years of high prices, farmers, middlemen, and exporters make more, but this also drives up inflation, making everything more expensive.
Madagascar's vanilla farmers face extreme poverty due to volatile prices, despite cooperatives like Sahala offering some stability.
Midland exporters like Sahala earn the biggest bucks. This cooperative has a turnover of $40 million annually. This is because cured beans are worth a lot more today. Sanala earns $250 per kilo for its cured vanilla, a 1300% increase from what farmer Rfin Salama made selling his raw beans. However, the bigger problem is the volatility of the price. In those low-price years, farmers live in extreme poverty. Like 81% of the country, many earn just $2 a day. Consequently, many farmers grow other crops like vegetables and peanuts to supplement their incomes.
During years of high prices, farmers, middlemen, and exporters make more, but this also drives up inflation, making everything more expensive. In an ideal world, vanilla would consistently get a good price to balance out the ever-changing price. In 2020, Madagascar's government introduced a minimum base price, which today is set at $250 a kilo for the exporter. They want to protect against this crazy up and down, but it hasn't gone to plan. Unfortunately, it appears that most people are not going along with paying that minimum price. Global companies are turning to other countries that sell at cheaper prices or they're buying synthetic vanilla.
A lot of this depends on the government of Madagascar and whether they will change tactics and go back to allowing their price to more accurately reflect the global price. Farmers are betting on cooperatives like Sahala to alleviate the need the government can't fill. Sahala can guarantee that its farmers make $17 a kilo, at least $2,600 a year. However, as they face theft, an unreliable government, and shifting demand, farmers at the center of the industry are unsure of what's next. Demand for vanilla is continuously increasing, and if Madagascar could find some stability, there's no reason for the outlook to not be really good for vanilla in Madagascar. But it's hard to say what the future brings.
Even in the expensive world of spices, saffron stands out. Real saffron can cost you over $10,000 per kilogram. Sought after for thousands of years as a spice, dye, and medicine, you need over 150 flowers to make just 1 gram of saffron. The stuff you have at home in the cupboard could well be fake. Saffron is the red stigma of the Crocus sativus. Each crocus has three small stigmas that have to be picked carefully by hand. This minuscule harvest means that the amount you get from each flower is roughly 0.06 grams. No machine can do the delicate work required to harvest these thin threads, and it can take 40 hours of hard manual labor to produce just 1 kilogram of high-quality saffron.
Growing the plants isn't exactly easy either. They're actually called corms, but they're like a bulb, basically like a flower bulb. The more flowers per bulb you can get and the bigger the flowers, really, all depends on how you look after it, how you grow it, and the climate. For example, if it rains just before harvest, you get bigger flowers. If it's very dry just before harvest, the flowers are smaller. You look after the crop during the year by hand, pick the flowers by hand, and process the flowers by hand. Once the crop starts flowering, harvesters have to work fast to make sure they can pick it all in time. Almost all of the saffron planted can flower within one week of the year, and to maintain the quality, the flowers are best picked first thing in the morning.
Quality is key when growing such a precise crop, and the taste of the saffron depends on the rainfall, temperature, and soil. Kashmir is famed for producing some of the highest quality saffron in the world. That small strand of saffron that you harvest as a result of all of this work, to get the highest grades, you might need to throw half of it away. The most expensive, highest grade saffron is generally made up of just the very tips of the stigma. In Iran, where 90% of the world's saffron is produced, there are four grades. The lowest grade is the bunch, which is the entire strand pulled from the flower, from the dark red tips to the yellow base. In higher grades, the yellow strand is removed, leaving only a long strand of pure red. This means a kilo of saffron could be made up of 450,000 strands.
Saffron's incredible value comes from its labor-intensive cultivation and the unique, irreplaceable flavor it adds to dishes, but climate change and fraud are threatening its future.
Saffron production is highly dependent on rainfall, temperature, and soil conditions. Kashmir is renowned for producing some of the highest quality saffron in the world. However, to achieve the highest grades, it is often necessary to discard nearly half of the harvested saffron. The most expensive and highest grade saffron typically consists of just the very tips of the stigma.
In Iran, which produces 90% of the world's saffron, there are four grades. The lowest grade, known as the bunch, includes the entire strand from the dark red tips to the yellow base. Higher grades involve removing the yellow strand, leaving only a long strand of pure red. This means that a kilo of saffron could be composed of 450,000 strands, requiring 150,000 flowers, which take up a significant amount of growing space. For comparison, cumin can yield 600 kilos per acre, and nutmeg around 350 kilos, whereas saffron yields only 1.8 kilos per acre.
Despite the immense effort and space required, demand for saffron is increasing, with over 200 metric tons harvested worldwide each year, which is the result of about 30 billion flowers. The high demand has led to the production of fake saffron threads made from materials like corn silks, coconut fibers, or even horse hair. Synthetic colorings are also used to dye lower-grade stigmas and sell them as high-grade saffron. In late 2019, a fake saffron crime ring was uncovered in the UK, leading to a two-year international investigation. In 2010, Spain exported 190,000 kilos of saffron worth $50 million, despite producing only 1,500 kilos, with reports indicating that up to 90% of Spanish saffron exports were fraudulent. Efforts to crack down on fake and mislabeled products continue, but the problem persists, adversely affecting real saffron farmers.
Real saffron has a unique bittersweet and earthy flavor that is difficult to replicate, contributing to its high value. Throughout history, saffron has been highly sought after, with myths and legends about its powers. In Greek mythology, Zeus sometimes slept on a bed of saffron, and Cleopatra was said to bathe in saffron and milk. In the 14th century, its popularity surged in Europe as it was believed to be a possible cure for the plague.
However, climate change poses a significant threat to saffron production. In Kashmir, production has dropped significantly, with many farmers selling their land. A local recounts that it used to take two days to harvest saffron from the fields, but now it can be done in half an hour due to reduced yields. Between 2017 and 2018, saffron production in the region fell by almost 70%, from 16.5 metric tons to 5.2, and continuing droughts and climate change could make this harvest even rarer.
In contrast, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors supplies high-end meat to thousands of restaurants from New York to Las Vegas. The business, run by the same family for over a century, boasts the largest dry aging room in the world. Pat, the third-generation owner, has introduced a new approach by selling high-end meat to both fancy restaurants and burger chains like Shake Shack. Pat's team produces 250,000 pounds of meat every night, likening the process to a game of Jenga.
Pat LaFrieda turned a humble butcher shop into a $270 million meat empire by focusing on high-quality cuts and efficient delivery.
Production in the region fell almost 70%, from 16.5 metric tons down to 5.2. With continuing droughts and climate change, this harvest could become even more rare. This is where some of America's best restaurants get their steak. Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors supplies thousands of restaurants from New York to Las Vegas and has the largest dry aging room in the world. One family has run this business for over a century, and Pat is the third-generation owner. Right now, there's well over $10 million of meat in here. He brought in a whole new approach to the business, selling high-end meat to both fancy restaurants and burger chains like Shake Shack. Pat's team produces 250,000 pounds of meat every night. It's kind of like Jenga, where you're moving one piece and another piece comes in. It takes years to develop an army like we have; their weapons are butcher's knives, band saws, and meat grinders.
So how does Pat LaFrieda manage to supply everything from $3 Smash Burgers to $200 steaks? And how did he turn a humble butcher shop into a $270 million meat empire? Pat only buys Prime and Choice beef, the highest USDA grades. These cuts have the most marbling, which adds flavor. Chefs normally know what they want to order or need to order after that dinner service, and then they really want the product delivered the next morning. A few hours later, that's why shifts here start around 6:00 p.m., and then it's a race against the clock. Some kitchens need these steaks by the following morning. The only way to work throughout the night is to have cohesion. As a former military guy myself, building that team takes time.
Many steaks start in this dry aging room, which holds 15,000 of Pat's finest cuts. It has to stay at 36°F and 80% humidity; otherwise, everything will spoil or freeze, and Pat could lose millions. As the meat ages, moisture evaporates and muscles break down. We know that the dry aging process is working when we see that the protein has sunken in from the bone and the fat. Workers wheel the meat to the portioning section, where master butchers go to work on everything from Tomahawk steaks to New York strips, slicing them exactly the way each restaurant wants. Pat trained most of these butchers himself. The ones you made this morning were beautiful. There really are no butcher schools, so restaurants will ask me, "Pat, where do you get your butchers from?" We don't get our butchers; we make our butchers.
They only need a few tools to get the job done. In most people's hands, you're going to see boning knives. With this, you could basically do the whole job until you get to cutting the steak across, and that's where you want a scimitar knife. What makes this a butcher knife as opposed to a chef's knife is the protective corners. Certain cuts require using a band saw, which is ideal for slicing through bone or doing high-volume orders as fast as possible. Only master butchers can operate them. It's probably about two and a half years before they would even get to a band saw. Next, workers load everything onto trucks. If a customer is local, Pat's team can deliver within a few hours.
The Press Club Grill in New York City gets thousands of pounds of meat from LaFrieda per week. Owner and Chef Franklin Becker showed us how he prepares a boneless ribeye. "I try to season it fairly aggressively and let all that salt kind of penetrate into the pores of the meat. Then I'm going onto an infrared broiler. This steak doesn't take long; it's pretty quick. In just 5 to 6 minutes, you'll get a juicy medium rare. You see that fat starting to caramelize. You let it rest, then the meat's going to kind of reabsorb all those juices, and when you slice it, there's going to be nothing left really on the board. That's when a steak is perfectly rested; that's when you know that you've cooked it right."
One of the most legendary steakhouses in New York City, Peter Luger, has been sourcing meat cuts from LaFrieda since 1998. Peter Luger has garnered its reputation as a New York City institution. "Frankly, we did a lot of hard work, and I think it starts with our attention to detail in selecting each piece of meat that comes into this restaurant. We're really about letting the highest quality steak we can buy shine with just a little salt and a tiny bit of butter. We cook the steak to order and send it out sizzling hot to the table.
A perfectly rested steak has no juices left on the board, that's when you know you've cooked it right.
When meat is perfectly rested, it reabsorbs all the juices, leaving nothing on the board when sliced. This indicates that the steak has been cooked right. Peter Luger, one of the most legendary steak houses in New York City, has been sourcing meat cuts from LEF Pra since 1998. Peter Luger has garnered its reputation as a New York City institution through a lot of hard work, starting with their attention to detail in selecting each piece of meat that comes into the restaurant. They focus on letting the highest quality steak shine with just a little salt and a tiny bit of butter, cooking the steak to order and sending it out sizzling hot.
LEF Pra does not just supply fancy restaurants. In 2004, Pat bought the company's first burger machine to make patties for a new fast-casual chain, Shake Shack. Pat created a special blend without trimmings or added fat for the new chain, and Shake Shack still uses Pat's recipes today. LEF Pra supplies patties for more than a hundred of its locations. Every burger starts on the main floor, where 2,000 lbs of Angus beef are dumped onto conveyor belts. Machines spray them with diluted vinegar to kill potential germs, then grind and mix the meat. The ground meat goes into patty-forming machines, which can make 200 different blends. Workers need to move fast as the company pumps out over 200,000 burgers a day, making the environment hectic and challenging.
Mel's Butcher Box in Tenly, New Jersey, is one of Pat's loyal customers. Owner Melanie Landano orders up to 100 lbs of burgers a day for her restaurant. They use the original Pat LaFrieda blend, a short rib brisket blend, for special events. If a customer requests dry-aged brisket burgers, they get that too. Some people request a 45-day dry-aged burger, and Pat will make anything they want. Once on the grill, Mel leaves the meat to cook without pressing it, preserving the juices. Besides her daily customers, Mel also cooks burgers for four local schools, grilling over 200 patties for students on Monday mornings alone. Mel also buys LEF Pra skirt steaks, ribeye cheesesteaks, and meatballs, using Pat's grandfather's recipe, which she finds delicious.
Family recipes are still an important part of LEF Pra's legacy. Pat's great-grandfather opened a Brooklyn butcher shop in 1922, later moving the operation to Manhattan's growing meatpacking district. Pat's grandfather took over and started Pat LEF Meat Purveyors. Pat began learning the job as a child, cutting meat with his grandfather and father. Although Pat's father wanted him to try a different career, Pat spent nine months as a stockbroker before joining the family business. A decade later, Pat was named CEO. Now, his father eagerly awaits Pat's son to go off to college and return to run the family business. When Pat joined in 1994, the company had 44 restaurant customers. Now, they have 1,600 and post annual sales of $270 million, making them several hundred times larger than in 2021.
To keep such a massive operation running, Pat opened a new $20 million facility. He does everything from working in production to overseeing customer relations. Pat loves cutting meat, finding it a relaxing time for his best thinking. Despite the growth, Pat believes there is room for more. The facility currently produces about 250,000 lbs of product a night, with the capacity to triple or quadruple that, having been built with the space to expand.
Pat's hands-on leadership and relentless dedication have skyrocketed the business to new heights, proving that passion and hard work fuel growth.
Customers now number 1,600, and the company is posting annual sales of $270 million. We are several hundred times larger than we were in 2021. Pat opened this new $20 million facility to keep such a massive operation running. Pat has to be more than a manager; he does everything. He works in production, collaborates with the team, meets customers, and oversees everything. It's something I love to do, and I do a lot of my best thinking while I'm cutting meat. To me, it's a relaxing time. Even after this much growth, Pat thinks there's room for more. This facility produces about 250,000 lbs of product a night and has the capacity to probably triple or quadruple that. We built it with the space to be able to expand from there.
After these leaves are plucked, dried, and ground, they will turn into the finest matcha. But not all matcha is the same. The greener matcha is the smoother and more complex its flavor. High-quality jade green matcha can cost 20 times as much as pale green matcha. While this bright green powder takes a few seconds to dissolve in water, it takes an entire year to grow the plant it comes from. What makes ceremonial grade matcha so exceptional and why is it so expensive? Matcha at its highest quality is referred to as ceremonial grade because of the central role it plays in Japanese tea ceremonies. Lower quality matcha, also called culinary grade matcha, can be made sweet with sugar and cream in desserts, but in its tea form, it's very bitter.
Gintaro is a sixth-generation matcha producer. He runs a 180-year-old tea farm, one of the oldest in Uji, Japan, a city with a centuries-old tea history. In spring, they sprout young, tender leaves, and that's the sign that matcha season has begun. To make matcha, he only needs the very first leaves of the plant. It's there that there's a higher concentration of nutrients, and they will make the best quality tea. At peak harvest, collecting leaves can take hours. The reason why the plants are in the shade is not to protect those plucking them from the sun but to protect the plants themselves. Extensive exposure to sunlight develops bitterness in the leaves. Blocking the sunlight preserves their flavor and gives them a bright green color. Before harvest in the spring, the plants spend 30 to 40 days in the shade. Gintaro uses rice straw panels to shade his plants, a method that's become extremely rare among tea farmers. Most farmers now use plastic nets; they're more convenient and can be reused. Gintaro's plants spend double the time in the shade of what is recommended to make matcha, which is 20 days. While plants that make lower grades of matcha are harvested two or three times a year, ceremonial grade matcha is made from plants that have been plucked only once.
After an entire day of picking, Gintaro's work is just getting started. The first step of processing the leaves is steaming. Steaming locks in the flavor and preserves their bright green color, but most of all, it prevents oxidation, which would turn them into black tea. After steaming, the leaves go into a leaf spreader, a series of four mesh tubes where they're rapidly cooled by the wind. This eliminates the water on the leaves and prepares them for the next step: drying. The tea leaves at Gintaro's farm are dried using a 97-year-old furnace, which gives them a unique roasted aroma. After drying, the stems are removed, and the leaves are sorted. Up until this point, the leaves are called tencha, and they will only become matcha after they're turned into a green powder. Before doing that, Gintaro usually tastes the unrefined leaves. He's very critical of his work.
Ceremonial grade matcha is ground using a stone mill. It's designed to grind counterclockwise only. This traditional method grinds a fine powder that preserves the nutrients of the leaf, but it's very slow. It takes Gintaro an entire hour to grind just 40 grams of matcha. With an automated crusher, this would happen in seconds. The matcha stone mills are some of the most traditional instruments in Japan; they're made of granite and are highly valued for their craftsmanship.
Ceremonial grade matcha, painstakingly ground by hand, preserves its nutrients and delicate fragrance, making it a treasured tradition in Japan.
The leaves will only become matcha after they're turned into a green powder. Before doing that, Gintaro usually tastes the unrefined leaves as he is very critical of his work. Ceremonial grade matcha is ground using a Stone Mill designed to grind counterclockwise only. This traditional method grinds a fine powder that preserves the nutrients of the leaf, but it's very slow. It takes Gintaro an entire hour to grind just 40 grams of matcha. With an automated crusher, this would happen in seconds. The matcha Stone Mills are some of the most traditional instruments in Japan. They are made of granite and are entirely hand-carved. Just one of these Stone Mills can cost over $1,300. It grinds the matcha into a fine, glossy powder. However, once matcha is ground, the fragrance slowly disappears and becomes more delicate, so Gintaro usually grinds it one more time before selling it.
Ceremonial grade matcha contains a higher level of an antioxidant called catechin and more chlorophyll than other green teas. This is a result of the shading process and the slow grinding. While the Japanese public has long been familiar with the distinction between ceremonial grade and culinary grade matcha, it's relatively new to the rest of the world. Matcha's popularity has been soaring. In 2020, the global matcha market was worth $3 billion, and it's expected to exceed $5.5 billion by 2027. In the last 10 years, exports of matcha from Japan have doubled; compared to 30 years ago, they've quadrupled. However, these numbers barely refer to ceremonial grade matcha. The lower costs of production, faster turnaround, and the ability to harvest leaves up to three times a year have made culinary grade matcha a more popular choice for farmers. In Uji, only 60 families are left growing ceremonial grade matcha. For Gintaro, taking over the family business wasn't an obvious choice. Once all this year's young leaves are picked and ground into matcha powder, Gintaro will spend the fall pruning the trees, plowing, and fertilizing the soil. Come winter, he will weave the rice straw to shade his plants, and new leaves will sprout again, ready to be turned into matcha.
Now let's head to Greece, where some of the finest olive oil in the world is produced. This olive oil is considered very bitter, very spicy, and very intense with a grassy, fruity aroma, which makes Coroni very special. The region has a mild Mediterranean climate with extended periods of sunshine, making it the ideal home for olive groves. Coroni olives are harvested from late October until late January. The best olive oil is considered to be the one extracted from the olives harvested in the first three weeks when they're bright green. Early harvest olive oil is more nutritious, rich in polyphenols and antioxidants, which make the flavor fresher and more intense. As the olives ripen, they do not really get any bigger but will get darker. These ripe olives contain more oil than the green ones and will give a larger yield, but their oil has a milder flavor.
To preserve the nutrients inside the Coroni olive, the harvest happens as fast as possible. There are two methods: one is to shake the olives out of the tree with electric sticks that brush the olives, causing them to fall without hurting the tree. Only the olives that are ready to fall actually come down. They go through the trees, harvesting both more ripe and greener olives. Another method is to prune all the inside branches and then collect the olives with the help of a machine that filters out the leaves. With both methods, the olives fall into a net made of breathable material to avoid compressing the olives. The net is then closed, and the more stubborn branches and leaves are taken out by hand. Typically, 50 kilos of olives are put into one sack.
Olive oil production is a blend of tradition and precision, turning olives into liquid gold in just 45 minutes.
To harvest the olives, two methods are used. One involves pruning all the inside branches and then collecting the olives with the help of a machine that filters out the leaves. The other method involves letting the olives fall into a net made of breathable material to avoid compressing them. The net is then closed, and the more stubborn branches and leaves are taken out by hand. Both methods ensure that the olives fall into a net which is made of breathable material to avoid compressing the olives. The net is then closed, and the more stubborn branches and leaves are taken out by hand.
Each sock can hold up to 50 kilos of olives, and from that, you get about 10 kilos of olive oil. The process involves scratching the olive and squeezing it to find the olive oil inside. The fresh olive oil is whiter because it's mixed with some pulp. The aroma of fresh grass is what you look for in fresh olive oil. However, the olives themselves are very bitter and not suitable for direct consumption.
The Coroni olive has a sister variety called Camata. Both are important for the life of the Olive Grove and are good for the pollination of the trees. Traditionally, people produced what they needed for their household, including both Camata olives and olive oil. Due to their bitterness, Camata olives are not turned into olive oil but are instead cured in brine, then vinegar, and stored in jars with Coroni olive oil.
The olive grove has more than 2,000 olive trees, some of which are 1,000 years old. Every family has around 200 to 300 trees, providing olive oil for the family and an extra income. Deitra, who extracts oil from her family's groves, also works with local families to extract their oil. Her mill is paid in olive oil, keeping 8% of the production. During peak harvest, more than a thousand sacks arrive every day at Demitrius Mill, and the oil is extracted within 24 hours.
After the leaves are blown out by a machine, the olives are washed to remove any soil that could give the oil an off taste. The olives are weighed to see what percentage of olive oil is extracted from them. For the Coroni variety, early harvest yields about 14%, while midseason yields about 20%. The olives, including the pits, are ground into a paste, which ferments and spins to bring out the aromas of the Coroni olive. The temperature is then cooled down quickly to extract the oil through cold extraction, which means the olive oil is produced with olives at less than 28°C to avoid cooking the oil.
The extraction process happens in a machine that works like a big centrifuge, separating the solids from the liquid, which is the olive oil. The process is very fast, turning olives into oil in less than 45 minutes. The resulting extra virgin olive oil is the finest grade, preserving all the antioxidants and polyphenols present in the Coroni olive. Extra virgin olive oil has a free acidity of 0.8% or less, meaning less than 0.8% of the fatty acids have been damaged in production or storage. It is more nutritious but has a shorter shelf life compared to other grades.
Finally, the liquids are separated through a second centrifugation, where the olive oil, being lighter, goes to the surface, and the water, being heavier, goes down. The olive oil is then stored in 300-ton stainless steel tanks, which are filled with nitrogen when not full to preserve the oil.
Extra virgin olive oil is more nutritious but has a shorter shelf life.
The Coroni olive is like cheese made with raw milk. Olive oil is also measured by a parameter called free acidity. For extra virgin olive oil, the free acidity must be 0.8% or less, meaning that less than 0.8% of the fatty acids present in olive oil have been damaged either in production or storage. Extra virgin olive oil is more nutritious but also has a shorter shelf life compared to other grades.
Once the liquids are extracted, they need to be separated. There is some water naturally inside the olive oil. This is done through a second centrifugation, which is vertical. Olive oil, being light, rises to the surface, while water, being heavy, goes down, and thus they are naturally separated. Olive oil is stored in 300-ton stainless steel tanks. When not full, the tanks are filled with nitrogen because light, oxygen, and temperature are the worst enemies of olive oil. Unlike wine, there is no such thing as aging in the bottle for olive oil, which is only bottled when needed. The Miteras Mill produces more than 600 tanks of olive oil every year. It is a traditional olive oil mill that started working in 1904, and my husband is now the fifth-generation owner of the mill.
This is how it was originally, and this is the family. This is my father-in-law in that photo; he was a small boy of four years old, and now he is 74. You are very lucky because this is the early harvest olive oil, harvested just 10 days ago, so this is as fresh as you can get it. This is the Coronation variety from our own land, our family estate. I want you to take your hand, close it, and roll it a bit. Usually, when we taste olive oils, we taste them at 28°, which is the perfect temperature to sense the aromas of the olive oil.
Extra virgin olive oil has three characteristics. The first is fruitiness, which you can only sense with your nose. Fruitiness has a scale from 0 to 10 by international standards. Let's put our noses in. The Coroni variety has the fresh-cut grass characteristic, and it smells exactly like that, with a fruitiness around 6 or 6.5. The other two characteristics are bitterness, which you feel on the right and left parts of your tongue, and spiciness, which you feel when you swallow the olive oil.
When you taste the olive oil, you do the "oy" movement to let the olive oil breathe. This is the only time you need a little bit of oxygen. You want a fresh, green mouthfeel that is not disturbing. Good quality bread and good quality olive oil can make you feel really blessed. You are definitely blessed to be doing this; I love it.
Cinnamon was once as valuable as gold. Known as Ceylon cinnamon or true cinnamon, it is healthier and sweeter than other kinds. Sri Lanka produces 90% of the world's supply, but true cinnamon is up against a powerful rival: a lower-quality kind called cassia. Cassia can be unhealthy in large amounts but is up to 10 times cheaper, dominating the global market. The problem is that cassia and Ceylon look nearly identical in powder form, and loose labeling laws make it easy for brands to mix in cheap cassia with the more expensive stuff or replace it completely.
So why is this Sri Lankan spice considered the best cinnamon in the world, and how do you know it's actually what's in your spice rack? Sunth harvests cinnamon for Rtha, one of Sri Lanka's largest producers. He starts working in the fields before sunrise to harvest the spice while there's moisture in the air. Ceylon cinnamon comes from the inner bark of cinnamon tree branches, which have to be cut at an inward angle. If Sunth cuts carefully, he can harvest each tree for half a century.
After about four hours of cutting, he hauls the last batch of branches back to the estate's main building. Each bundle of branches is soaked in a water tank for at least 15 minutes to make the bark easier to peel off. Sunth's work has just begun. Until at least 1 p.m., he works with a team of peelers like San to scrape each branch one by one, exposing the softer inner bark, which is the actual cinnamon. Brass rods smooth the surface and loosen the cinnamon from the hard bark.
From sunrise to sunset, the journey of cinnamon from tree to spice is a blend of tradition, precision, and history.
At sunrise, Sunet begins his day harvesting spice while there's moisture in the air. Salon cinnamon comes from the inner bark of cinnamon tree branches, which must be cut at an inward angle. If Sunet cuts carefully, he can harvest each tree for half a century. After about four hours of cutting, he hauls the last batch of branches back to the estate's main building. Each bundle of branches is soaked in a water tank for at least 15 minutes to make the bark easier to peel off. Sunet's work has just begun; until at least 1 p.m., he works with a team of peelers like San to scrape each branch one by one, exposing the softer inner bark, which is the actual cinnamon. Brass rods smooth the surface and loosen the cinnamon from the hard wood. Then, with surgical precision, they carve and slice the bark into thin strips known as quills. The quills are so thin that they immediately curl up as they dry. Small pieces of inner bark, called quillings, prevent rips. Sunet gets paid by the weight. The quills typically need to dry for a week before being sent off to the factory for processing.
Fifteen minutes down the road, sorters determine the value of each quill. The thinner the quill, the more expensive it is. Just like meat, cinnamon gets a grade. RTHA uses eight grades in total, all based on diameter. The highest quality, known as Alba, is as thin as a pencil and is twice as valuable as H2 FAQ, the lowest grade. Only one in about 25 quills gets the Alba grade. Sorters like Violet grade thousands of quills a day, and she can grade each one in a few seconds. Once the quills are sorted, they are cut into different lengths and packaged for shipping. The long cuts are packaged in bulk to be sold wholesale, while shorter 3-inch sticks go to grocery stores.
For much of human history, a sack of this cinnamon would have been worth a fortune. The spice was traded across the ancient world since at least 2000 BC. Merchants peddled legends that the sweet-smelling bark came from the nest of a mythical bird. At one point, cinnamon was more valuable than gold. By the 13th century, Sri Lanka had begun exporting the spice directly to Egypt, and Arab traders brought it to Medieval Europe. Salon cinnamon was so sought after that it became a status symbol for the rich. Soon, European countries wanted to profit off the trade themselves. For more than 300 years, the Portuguese, Dutch, and British fought over the island and control of its valuable exports. The country declared independence and regained control of its cinnamon lands in 1948, but by then, a cheaper alternative, Cassia, had already begun to dominate the market.
Cassia comes from a totally different tree, which grows taller and has thicker bark. Most of it is produced on farms in East or Southeast Asia, like this one in Indonesia. The country has roughly twice the amount of cinnamon plantations as Sri Lanka. Producers can harvest entire trees at one time, a process that requires fewer workers and makes it easier to produce in bulk. Cassia farmers can harvest ten times the amount of cinnamon per acre than Salon farmers. However, Cassia could pack hidden health risks. Salon cinnamon boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, and stabilizes blood sugar. Cassia has health benefits too, but it contains high levels of a compound called coumarin, which can cause liver damage if consumed in high doses. Cassia can have 250 times more coumarin than Salon, but you'd have to eat roughly a teaspoon of Cassia a day for weeks to put yourself at risk. Countries like Germany have rules to limit coumarin in foods, but the US doesn't regulate the amount of coumarin in cinnamon.
So, how do you spot the difference in the spice aisle? It's easier when you're buying cinnamon sticks. Salon quills have more of a brown hue; if they look red, there's a good chance you're eating Cassia. Cassia sticks are also thicker, usually half an inch and hard to break, while Salon can be as fragile as cigar paper. Taste can be another giveaway: Cassia usually has a strong and spicy flavor, while Salon is sweeter and milder. However, powdered cinnamon is harder to verify. Some fraudsters have been caught mixing powdered Cassia with Salon but marketing it as pure Salon. One study found that over half of the products in European and US grocery stores contained mixed cinnamon. Once mixed with Salon cinnamon and Cassia, it's hard to detect what is there. Only the coumarin content helps people to know this, but consumers are far away from that kind of test. Unfortunately, no one in the US or the EU is stopping this practice.
Ceylon cinnamon is often mixed with cassia and sold as pure, but a new EU tag could help consumers identify the real deal.
If the cinnamon sticks look red, there's a good chance you're eating Cassia. Cassia sticks are also thicker, usually about half an inch, and hard to break. Meanwhile, Ceylon cinnamon can be as fragile as cigar paper. The taste can be another giveaway: Cassia usually has a strong and spicy flavor, whereas Ceylon is sweeter and milder. However, powdered cinnamon is harder to verify. Some fraudsters have been caught mixing powdered Cassia with Ceylon but marketing it as pure Ceylon. One study found that over half of the products in European and US grocery stores contained mixed cinnamon. Once it is mixed with Ceylon cinnamon and Cassia, it's hard to detect what is there; only the coumarin content helps people to know this, but consumers are far removed from that kind of test.
No one in the US or the EU is stopping this. In the US, it's estimated that the FDA only physically inspects 1 to 2% of imported foods like spices. The regulatory authorities are deeply entrenched in this adulteration issue, and even though there are health consequences, they are not taking any action. So how is Sri Lanka supposed to compete in an industry filled with fraud? In 2022, it scored a major win when the European Union granted a coveted geographical indication tag to Ceylon cinnamon. This means any spice bottle labeled Ceylon in the EU has to come from Sri Lanka, similar to how real champagne can only come from one region of France. The tag could reduce competition, increase Ceylon's value, and boost sales, but it only goes so far. In both the EU and US, brands don't have to add the tag or indicate what type of cinnamon they're selling, making it hard for customers to know what they're eating.
D Silva suggests that adding the botanical or species name of Ceylon on the ingredients list will help inform customers, so they know which area of Sri Lanka the cinnamon comes from and who did the processing under what conditions. She hopes this will help Sri Lanka's thousands of producers earn more for their Ceylon cinnamon. It's a culture, and many people depend on this industry.
This 70-year-old company calls in 140,000 forest-grown shiitake mushrooms a year. It starts in the forests of the Japanese prefecture of Miyazaki, where farmers use a 1,000-year-old technique to grow the rarest of them all: white flower shiitake. Suake sells these premium caps for at least $400 per kilo, but the company says less than 1% of the mushrooms it processes are given that top-tier designation. Forest-grown shiitakes are getting harder to cultivate, and the conditions needed to produce the white flower variety are so specific that even a few drops of rain can ruin them. On top of that, the appetite for all kinds of shiitake is decreasing in Japan, where they've historically been a staple. That's why Sugimoto and other Japanese companies are increasingly turning to a global market to future-proof their business.
So what makes these forest-grown mushrooms so expensive, and can this rare Japanese shiitake make a comeback? The process is known as inoculation, and at this stage, there's no telling which sprouts will become white flower shiitake. It takes about six years for the fungus to spread throughout the log and start sprouting harvestable caps. Each log produces mushrooms for about six years. This species of tree is not only plentiful but apparently delicious. Forest-grown mushrooms are at the top of the shiitake hierarchy. They are more difficult and unpredictable to produce than indoor-grown, which leads to their heftier price tag. Even in the US, the price of forest-grown shiitake can reach $40 per kilo, while the price of indoor-grown greenhouse shiitakes is only half of that.
There are two main types of shiitake based on their shape. The top-tier version of donko is called hanko or white flower, which fetches the $400 per kilo price tag. The difference between a regular donko and a white flower shiitake comes down to the cap; all donko mushrooms will have distinct cracks, but the pattern on a white flower is more dispersed. To grow any shiitake this way, conditions have to be perfect, and white flower caps can't be directly rained on at all. When water gets into those cracks on the surface, it discolors the mushrooms and decreases their value. When they're ready, workers like N Kokai harvest each one by hand.
Perfect conditions and meticulous care make white flower shiitake mushrooms a $400 per kilo delicacy.
There are two main types of Shiitake mushrooms based on their shape. The top-tier version of Donko is called Hanco or white flower, which fetches a $400 per kilo price tag. The difference between a regular Donko and a white flower Shiitake comes down to the cap. All Donko mushrooms will have distinct cracks, but the pattern on a white flower is more dispersed. To grow any Shiitake this way, conditions have to be perfect. White flower caps can't be directly rained on at all; when water gets into those cracks on the surface, it discolors the mushrooms and decreases their value.
When they're ready, workers like N. Kokai harvest each one by hand. Traditionally, logs are left unprotected in the forest, but growers like Gaius started growing mushrooms in an outdoor structure he calls an artificial logyard to gain some control over his environment. Even with this limited control, the recent unpredictable climate is affecting how much he can harvest. In 2010, Kusa left his life in Osaka to join his father on this Shiitake mushroom farm. However, a combination of his parents aging and an increasingly unpredictable climate caused the farm's productivity to shrink again. A smaller yield means fewer white flower Shiitake, which only make up about 8% of the farm's harvest.
White flower, regular Donko, and Kushen mushrooms are harvested all at once, loaded up in crates or bags, and taken to a processing facility to be sorted, dried, and packaged. Drying Shiitake mushrooms this way actually amplifies their umami flavor. Dehydration breaks down the cell walls of the mushroom, releasing and concentrating the compounds responsible for their taste. All that flavor remains even after they're rehydrated. After the drying process, workers like Eddie Eh Ori will hand sort the Shiitake by color, shape, and size. This is where they will be able to separate the white flower from the rest of the Donko. White flower mushrooms must be flawless, and Sugimoto is picky about the other types of Shiitake the company processes too. Sorters will filter out any mushrooms that have aesthetic flaws; these mushrooms will be used in other products like the company's Shiitake powder, which is used by chefs all over the world as a natural umami booster.
Even though demand is slowing in Japan, the global appetite for mushrooms is steadily growing, and Shiitake in particular are sought after for their perceived health benefits. Sugimoto has been increasingly tapping into international markets. According to the Mushroom Council, over the past decade in the US, there has been a more than 100% increase in specialty mushroom sales, primarily driven by Shiitake. "They're so versatile, they're just so amazing, and you can do so much with them," says Ravi De Rossi, co-owner of Third Kingdom, a mushroom-centric restaurant in New York City. Most of its mushrooms are sourced locally, but white flower calls for special circumstances. "We get it flown in from Japan, and when they have them, they'll ship us a few. We'll run it as a special, we'll invite just like some of our special regular customers and let them know what we're doing," he adds. Regular Donko also shows up on the menu from time to time. Executive chef Juarito dreams up dishes like this one, prepared steak and onion style. While Donko are in season, he'll reach for them over thinner ones when he wants an amplified experience.
Leaning into the international market is key for companies like Sugimoto. Pulling these mossy green threads by hand is the only way to harvest gum. After hours of washing, shaping, and growing, they will be transformed into one of South Korea's rarest seaweeds. When Truan started her business, P.K. was mainly harvested and eaten raw by locals in the San region. But turning this small industry into a thriving business presented a challenge, so she worked to get this earthy and sweet seaweed to people outside the region, not just to anyone but to the culinary world's biggest players, all while navigating unpredictable harvests and rising prices. So how did Jan take G from local delicacy to worldwide sensation, and why is it so?
From hand-harvesting in freezing mud flats to Michelin-starred kitchens, Jan transformed South Korea's rare seaweed into a global culinary sensation.
Pulling these mossy green threads by hand is the only way to harvest gum. After hours of washing, shaping, and growing, they will be transformed into one of South Korea's rarest seaweeds. When Truan started her business, p k was mainly harvested and eaten raw by locals in the San region. However, turning this small industry into a thriving business presented a challenge. She worked to get this earthy and sweet seaweed to people outside the region, not just to anyone but to the culinary world's biggest players, all while navigating unpredictable harvests and rising prices.
So, how did Jan take G from local delicacy to worldwide sensation, and why is it so expensive? Before reaching restaurant kitchens, K's journey starts on the freezing cold western shore of South Korea's Gin Bay. Unlike other types of edible seaweed like nordi that can be farmed, G can only grow in the wild on mud flats—coastal wetlands that form when ocean tides wash in sediment and mud. Because of this, gum can only be harvested by hand; any other way could destroy the root of the plant, impacting the supply for next year. Since gum can go bad if exposed to high temperatures for too long, harvesting happens from December to March when the sea is the coldest. For these four months, Chan and her team must collect as much gum as possible to meet demand from buyers for the rest of the year. They can spend six hours a day pulling gum from the mud flats.
The intense harvesting process is only the first difference between G and more common nauy seaweed. Compared to nauy's dark green color and slightly coarse feel, gum's bright green fine strands have a more delicate texture. This laborious process is just one of the reasons gum costs so much more than other seaweeds. Relying on the rhythms of nature means supply can be unpredictable. Recently, warming sea temperatures have disrupted the growth. To make up the difference, Jan buys K from local fishermen who collect it. K also has a richer, more pungent flavor than nauy, but that flavor comes with a price tag. An eight-sheet pack of G costs $16, while 50 sheets of nauy can be bought for the same price.
Whether it's harvested by workers or locals, all the comir has to be washed back at the factory. It's the most crucial part of processing because any mud, debris, or critters left on the seaweed could affect how it tastes in the end. Years ago, workers would have done this completely by hand, but this washing machine can clean 100 kg in less than 10 minutes. It's just one of the changes Jan made to the come through processing techniques she learned from her father. Like many locals, Jan's father, Charu Son, grew up eating K, but one day he was struck with a new idea for processing it.
Jan and her team of 15 still use his techniques to process G. Workers use a technique called harrowing to form the com into paper-thin sheets. They submerge a handful of the seaweed in fresh water and mold it on top of a bamboo mat. While it may look simple, this technique can take three years to master. Jan uses this press to remove excess water from the K. The sheets dry the rest of the way in these dryers. B soup sells K sheets either raw or roasted at 230°C for 10 seconds. Ba soap produces 3,500 sheets of K in a single day and exports roughly 500,000 each year.
Carving out a market for K outside of Saan was anything but easy. Jan knew the only way to create a market for the seaweed was to teach people about it. She focused on promoting it to the high-end market, sending samples of K to Michelin star chefs and writing articles describing its unique taste and texture. Eventually, her years of tireless promotion paid off. Jan says she began getting inquiries from chefs around the world. One of them is Chris Cipollone, the chef-owner of the restaurant Francy in Brooklyn, New York. It's one of several Michelin star restaurants that sources gum through P soup. "It's got this robust aroma; it's like an oceanic white truffle," is how Chris describes it to people. Chris has been using gum in his dishes for the last 10 years.
Creating a market for seaweed and high-end salt is a labor of love, proving that the pursuit of deliciousness is worth every challenge.
Jan knew that the only way to create a market for seaweed was to teach people about it. She focused on promoting it to the high-end market by sending samples of K to Michelin star chefs and writing articles describing its unique taste and texture. Eventually, her years of tireless promotion paid off. Jan says she began getting inquiries from chefs around the world. One of them is Chris Cipollone, the chef-owner of the restaurant Francy in Brooklyn, New York. It's one of several Michelin star restaurants that source K.
Chris describes K as having a robust aroma, akin to an oceanic white truffle. He has been using K in his dishes for the last 10 years, making it a key ingredient in one of the restaurant's signature dishes. In the kitchen, Chris explains the process of making pasta using the seaweed. The four simple ingredients include semolina flour, K itself, water, and salt. Chris mixes the seaweed into the pasta dough, noting that it seasons the dough to the point where you can actually taste it through the pasta itself. The pasta, rich in umami, is then cooked in a buttery wine sauce and topped with clams. Chris emphasizes that while he could opt for cheaper types of seaweed, K's one-of-a-kind flavor is worth the price tag, stating, "anything's worth it in the pursuit of deliciousness."
Chris isn't the only one willing to pay for K. Jan provides K for high-end restaurants in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, as well as Belgium, France, and Germany. However, this new demand has caused raw prices to rise. Jan notes that since 2020, more producers have emerged, but there is a silver lining: this new market for K is helping local communities.
In just a few hours, these salt crystals will disappear. They are fleur de sel crystals, unique to salt marshes like this one in Western France. Cedri has to harvest the fleur de sel now, or it will sink to the bottom of the pond, ruining the properties that make it unique. Fleur de sel is a salt that dissolves slowly, so its taste lingers in the mouth. This is part of why it sells for 230 times more than table salt domestically and for up to $420 per kilogram outside French borders. However, just about every step of the process to get this salt is difficult. Before harvesting, the wind has to be perfect, and during the harvest, salt producers like Cedri need to be ready to collect the precious salt at any moment, or they won't make a profit. Even if they seize the right moment, the salt has to dry for an entire year before it can be sold.
Salt harvesters, known as paludiers, benefit from the close proximity to the sea, which allows them to easily divert water to shallow ponds dug in blue clay. Unlike table salt, which is typically mined from underground, fleur de sel comes to the surface of the pond naturally as seawater slowly evaporates in the summer heat. Fleur de sel literally translates to "flower of salt," but there are no flowers in it. Its name is a play on words with the French verb meaning "coming up to the surface." Once it forms, the harvest window is very short. Anything like sudden rain or algae stuck in the water system could ruin the salt at any time.
This natural harvest method means that the salt has a high moisture content. When a salt crystal is high in moisture, it doesn't contain just water. To lower the moisture but preserve the nutrients inside the salt crystals, Cedri cannot speed up the drying process. He needs to let it dry slowly for an entire year before it's ready to be sold. This is what sets fleur de sel apart from table salt, which contains little to no moisture, and from other wet salts that are dried naturally but harvested differently. Cedri wanted to be even more specific, so he started to classify his salts based on the different winds blowing in the area, a method that had never been done before.
From office job to salt artisan, Cedri's passion for harvesting salt has turned into a lucrative craft, creating unique salts that sell for up to $420 per kilogram.
The natural harvest method means that the salt has a high moisture content. When a salt crystal is high in moisture, it doesn't contain just water. To lower the moisture but preserve the nutrients inside the salt crystals, Cedri cannot speed up the drying process. He needs to let it dry slowly for an entire year before it's ready to be sold. This is what sets Fleur de Sel apart from table salt, which contains little to no moisture, and from other wet salts that are dried naturally but have been harvested differently. Cedri wanted to be even more specific, so he started to classify his salts based on the different winds blowing here. This had never been done before. The predominant winds here blow from the West and Northwest.
In France, Cedri's custom salt can sell for over 10 times as much as other types of Fleur de Sel. Abroad, it can reach $420 per kilogram. His most expensive Fleur de Sel is nicknamed Snow; a 100 g box sells for €23. Cedri created it by studying the salinity levels in the pond combined with a very rare wind. Cedri wasn't born into this job; he started harvesting salt as a hobby with friends 20 years ago. At the time, he had an office job in Paris. Today, he works with another producer on 62 salt ponds and collaborates with 10 other companies on over 100 ponds.
Fleur de Sel is actually a byproduct of another type of salt, coarse salt. In the pond, it's a symphony between the two. Cedri can only harvest coarse salt in the morning before Fleur de Sel forms or just after harvesting it in the late afternoon. These movements are too harsh for Fleur de Sel and would instantly destroy it. Coarse salt takes up most of the time at work and also most of the harvest. For every 10 kilos of coarse salt, there is only 1 kg of Fleur de Sel. Still, because of the hand harvest method, this coarse salt remains seven times as expensive as table salt. Cedri didn't want to stop at the winds with his salt; he now plays with moisture to develop new flavors. His most successful creation was smoked salt. Cedri uses a mix of West and East Wind salts that have already dried for one year. The salt smokes for 12 hours. He is now collaborating with chefs to create custom salts.
We are in the woods of Alba, Piedmont, Italy. You can find white truffles growing in these woods and this woods only. These trees, together with the right soil and weather conditions, can only be found in this region of Italy. Together, they create a surprisingly big truffle with a divine fragrance. Today, we're going to hunt for more. To find these famous truffles, we must hunt them in the woods where they grow. Because truffles grow underground, unlike mushrooms, I needed to go on the hunt with licensed truffle hunter Johnny and his two dogs, Penny and Veto. Dogs are the only ones that are actually allowed to dig into this soil. Tools like hoes and rakes are forbidden. If the soil is hard and the truffle is hidden deep down, a truffle hunter, or trifolau in the local dialect, is only allowed to use a small tool called zapino. We visited during a period of heavy drought, so truffles were mostly on the surface, and there was no need to use it.
After hunting for three hours, we only found black truffles. The heavy droughts this year made unfavorable conditions for white truffles to grow. Despite the good news about the wine, I'm not giving up on the truffles yet. Even if a truffle hunter finds white truffles, they may not be the big ones that sell for the highest price. The harvest is unpredictable year to year. This part of Piedmont is called Langhe, which means hills in the local dialect. While poplar trees and oaks are favorites for white truffles, their proximity to other trees also makes chestnut, lime, willow, or hazel trees grow white truffles. It's like the whole forest is connected as one. But even still, not all trees make truffles. There's only a one in a thousand chance that a tree will actually enter into symbiosis with the truffle. The ones that do produce truffles produce dozens of varieties, of which only six are edible.
The hunt for white truffles is a delicate dance with nature, where patience and precision can turn a rare find into a culinary treasure.
Not giving up on the truffles yet, the process of truffle hunting is filled with unpredictability and excitement. Even if a truffle hunter finds white truffles, they may not be the big ones that sell for the highest price. The harvest is unpredictable year to year. This part of Piedmont is called Lange, which means Hills in the local dialect. While popular trees like poplars and oaks are favorites for white truffles, their proximity to other trees also makes chestnut, linden, willow, or hazel trees grow white truffles. It's like the whole forest is connected as one. However, not all trees make truffles; there's only a one in a thousand chance that a tree will actually enter into symbiosis with the truffle. The ones that do produce truffles produce dozens of varieties, of which only six are edible: four black, one whitish (abano), and the most prestigious, the white truffle.
While black truffles grow year-round, the prized white truffle is seasonal and can only be collected in the four months. After truffles get dug up, the hole is closed with soil and leaves to hide the hunter's spot from competitors. The human ones, dogs will find it, but a well-trained dog will know that the hole is empty even if it's covered. The main reason why the soil is covered is so the root of the tree that made the truffle won't spoil. Truffle hunters like Johnny usually sell their loot to local shops, which then clean and grade each truffle based on shape and weight. Normally, a tree collects two or three white truffles per day, so the tray right here is the daily work of 15 to 20 people. The shop we visited, Tarui Mara, was the very first company in the region to bring the humble local Alba white truffle to the global stage in the early 1900s.
Once collected, a truffle has a very short shelf life, losing its aroma and flavor after a few days. This means that if you want to enjoy an Alba white truffle outside of the city of Alba, you'd have to ship it within 24 hours. Restaurants can pay from $4,000 to $10,000 a kilogram to fly the truffles across continents. The best way to preserve a truffle is to avoid washing it until the very last minute. Alexandro recommends soaking it in cold water for 15 minutes so dirt can come off easily. While black truffles have a harder skin and are cleaned with a stiff brush, white truffles need something a little bit more delicate that can gently remove dirt without scraping off the outer skin.
At this stage, I know you're wondering the same things I am: what is the best way to eat it and what other foods does it pair with? We'll answer all these questions in the kitchen with Chef Mik Fe, who traveled to Alba from Singapore to research white truffles for a new project. We joined him to taste white truffles at their fullest taste and strongest aroma.
In another part of the world, 52,000 ceramic jars hold a Japanese black vinegar known as Gururu that can only be made in this part of the world. One batch can take up to five years to age, and brewmasters like Kenji Tada keep track of the quality by checking the taste, sound, and smell. One bottle can cost at least double the price of a regular mass-produced rice vinegar. Chefs across the country seek it out for its smooth and mellow taste. Sakamuru is one of eight vinegar breweries in the southern Japanese town of Fukuyama that still use this 200-year-old fermentation method. However, ramping up production is nearly impossible because it's difficult to find more land to lay out jars.
We traveled to Fukuyama, Japan, to see how this ancient method of making black vinegar is still standing. Kenji starts his work at the Sakamuru facility at 8:00 a.m. He's been working here for the past 40 years. Brown rice is one of only three ingredients in Gururu. Workers harvest it from nearby fields, steam the rice, and mix it with a mold that's also used to make sake and soy sauce. This is called Gori, and it's the first ingredient to go in the jar. Kenji fills up the rest with plain steamed brown rice, which makes the vinegar less tangy.
Ancient black vinegar from Fukuyama, Japan, crafted with tradition and precision, offers a unique, milder taste and health benefits, making it a sought-after culinary gem.
Ramping up production of black vinegar is nearly impossible because it's difficult to find more land to lay out jars. We traveled to Fukuyama, Japan, to see how this ancient method of making black vinegar is still standing. Keni starts his work at the Sakam Kururu facility at 8:00 a.m. and has been working there for the past 40 years. Brown rice is one of only three ingredients in Kururu. Workers harvest it from nearby fields, steam the rice, and mix it with a mold that's also used to make sake and soy sauce. This mold is called Koji, and it's the first ingredient to go in the jar. Genji fills up the rest with plain steamed brown rice, which makes the vinegar less tangy and acidic. Then, he fills the pot with around 9 gallons of fresh water from a natural spring. A final layer of Koji goes on top, which later turns into a thick slab of mold that protects the vinegar from other microbes entering the mixture.
Master brewers usually fill the jars up in the spring and fall when the temperatures are just right. This specific region has the perfect climate to make Kururu because of its relatively warm weather year-round. The natural outdoor heat accelerates fermentation. Over a 3 to 6 month process, the mold turns the rice starch into sugar and then into alcohol. As the vinegar ages, it turns darker and richer in taste. It takes at least 3 years to reach its signature brownish hue. Genji checks all 52,000 pots to keep track of the aging process. Each pot ages at its own pace, but most reach the dark brown color in 3 years. Genji selects a few to ferment for up to five years, and those are the most expensive. The company sells vinegar at all stages of aging.
These ceramic pots also play an essential role in the process. Their dark exterior absorbs heat from the sun, and the porousness of the clay allows the mold to keep fermenting. Sakam Kurusu has been buying them from Chin Jukan Pottery for the past 200 years, and they last for centuries. The company still has about 1,000 original pots from two centuries ago. Jukan is a 15th-generation potter running the 420-year-old family business.
People have been making black vinegar in Fukuyama since the 1800s. In the early 20th century, there were about 24 Kururu makers here, but many closed their doors during World War II when the government implemented food rations and restricted brewers from using rice. Sakamoto Kururu managed to stay afloat by briefly substituting sweet potatoes for rice. Today, it's one of only eight Kururu businesses left and is also one of the largest, covering 35,000 square meters—the size of more than six American football fields. Akihiro Sakamoto is the sixth generation to run the family business. It also has a restaurant on-site where visitors can taste the vinegar. Junichiro Honda studied the best way to use vinegar in his dishes, like miso and soy sauce. Rice vinegar is one of the basic seasonings used in Japanese cuisine. It's usually aged for 3 months, and some can be ready in just days with modern technology. Kururu's years-long natural process gives it a milder and less acidic taste than regular rice vinegar. The restaurant's sweet and sour pork is the most popular item on the menu.
A 1,000ml bottle of Kururu costs around $20, which is double the price of standard mass-produced rice vinegar. The older it is, the more expensive it becomes. However, Akihiro is not worried about cheaper competitors. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries certified Kururu with a geographical indication in 2015. This means authentic Kururu can only be made in this region using these techniques, just like champagne can only be produced in a certain region of France. Nowadays, Akihiro has chefs and customers from across the country seeking his vinegar year-round. The company expanded its line to include vinegar-based products like jam, ponzu sauce, and flavored drinks. Customers buy Kururu for its supposed health benefits, such as weight loss, lower cholesterol, and increased energy. Studies suggest people who use it regularly see benefits, but usually when paired with other healthy lifestyle choices.
Authentic kururu vinegar and Dijon mustard are prized for their unique regional ingredients and traditional methods, making them rare and expensive.
In 2015, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries certified kururu with a geographical indication. This means that authentic gurusu can only be made in this region using specific techniques, similar to how champagne can only be produced in a certain region of France. Nowadays, Akihiro has chefs and customers from across the country seeking his vinegar year-round. The company has expanded its line to include vinegar-based products like jam, ponzu sauce, and flavored drinks. Customers buy kou for its supposed health benefits, such as weight loss, lower cholesterol, and increased energy. Studies suggest that people who use it regularly see benefits, but usually when paired with other healthy lifestyle habits.
However, there is no simple way of expanding the business. Most of the land in Fukuyama is already taken, and moving the business elsewhere would mean losing the geographical indication. The company also needs a flat area to lay out pots, but the terrain here is hilly and steep. There is no way of accelerating the natural fermentation process or changing the size of the pots. For now, Akihiro is making as much as the 52,000 pots can produce. None of this is possible without veteran boo masters like Kenji ensuring that the quality is top-notch.
The key to real Dijon mustard is in its seeds. While other types of mustard use white seeds, Dijon is made with black ones, which give it a tangy, sharp flavor. Named after the town of Dijon, France, very few of the black seeds used to make Dijon mustard actually come from France. The few made with local seeds will cost up to six times more than average Dijon mustard. The jars of Dijon mustard made with local French ingredients are sold as Burgundy mustard, the name of the region where it has been made for centuries.
The mustard plant is a cruciferous vegetable like cabbage, broccoli, horseradish, and turnip. The plants are rich in pods, which are their fruit, and each pod contains several dozen mustard seeds. Dijon mustard is made with black mustard seeds, which are more aromatic than the white ones used for other types of mustard paste. They have a high level of cagan, the natural component that gives mustard its pungent aroma. One of the factors that sets Burgundy mustard apart from regular Dijon and keeps the prices high is that it is ground using a stone mill. This is a much slower process than using an automated steel mill, as stone mills can grind only 100 tons of seeds per day. The resulting flavor makes it worth it, preserving the spiciness of the seed by keeping the paste at room temperature.
To give Dijon mustard its distinct creaminess, the paste goes through a sieve, which extracts the yellow kernel from the rind. Dijon mustard used to be made with verjuice, a green juice made from unripe raisins, which added acidity and preserved the mustard. As the recipe evolved, producers sought to recreate its fruity flavor using a combination of white wine and vinegar. These two ingredients are still used in most Dijon mustard today, while Burgundy mustard is made with wine only. This wine comes from a local grape variety called aligote, which carries hints of the chalky, potassium-rich soil of the region.
While the town of Dijon and its surrounding region, Burgundy, produce 90% of France's Dijon mustard, finding local seeds is much rarer. Most producers get their supplies from other countries, with Canada growing 35% of the world's supply of mustard seeds. Using foreign seeds is more convenient and can be up to 50% cheaper than using French seeds. In 2021, France produced only 4,000 metric tons of seeds, far from the 32,000 metric tons needed to meet the country's national demand for Dijon. Local seeds also require extra care, as the use of pesticides is banned, and in recent years, late frosts in the spring have been destroying mustard crops in Burgundy.
The shortage of local seeds is part of a steady decline over the last century. What made local farmers give up on growing mustard was a 1957 European Union policy. The few jars on the market of Dijon mustard made with local seeds are now called Burgundy mustard. It became a protected label in 2009, similar to other products like champagne. It was launched as a collective effort by local farmers, scientists, and mills to reintroduce the crop in the region. Today, of the over 300 mustard mills once present in the region, only five remain, most of them industrial. From its very seeds to the final bottled product, Burgundy mustard is facing many challenges. Late frosts are killing both mustard plants and vineyards, making raw material even rarer and more expensive, while the ongoing war in Ukraine is driving up glass prices.