Women at Afghanistan’s Saffron Farms are Scared to Work Under the Taliban | Eater DC

"Founded from a D.C. apartment in June by Tahmina Ghaffer, Moonflowers is a saffron-importing business created to support a community of largely female farmers in the Herat region of Afghanistan. The name is an homage to the predawn harvesting process: workers hand-pick fragile purple crocus flowers before sunrise, removing the three delicate stigmas by hand within the flowers' 48-hour lifespan — a labor-intensive effort that can require upward of 70,000 flowers to yield one pound of spice that retails for roughly $5,000 to $10,000. Moonflowers emphasizes quality (super negin and sargol stigmas, assessed by color, aroma, and flavor) and sources Afghan saffron that has recently been ranked among the best in the world by the International Taste and Quality Institute; Ghaffer also frames saffron as a profitable alternative to opium that empowers women, who reportedly perform about 80 percent of processing. Although the Taliban takeover has put female harvesters at risk and led to some women being too frightened to return to the fields (with male laborers harvesting this season), Moonflowers says it has enough product to last through spring 2022, strong operations and sourcing, and remains committed to supporting Afghan women while donating to causes such as Skateistan (1 percent of profits) and the International Rescue Committee." - Stephanie Ganz