Why You Should Buy Saffron from Mohammad Salehi’s Heray Spice | Eater

"Founded in Chicago in 2017 by a Herat-born entrepreneur, this small saffron business sells premium Afghan saffron to more than 120 professional chefs and an increasing number of home cooks while positioning each purchase as a social investment. The founder travels regularly to Herat to recruit and train farmers, pays them significantly above prevailing rates, and invests 10% of net income into educational nonprofits to create long-term opportunities for children in his hometown. Emphasizing purity and traditional, naturally heated/dried processing to meet Western standards, the company educates U.S. chefs about fake saffron and delivers many orders personally from a small team; during COVID it shifted from primarily wholesale to direct online retail. Motivated to provide a profitable alternative to opium cultivation, the operation highlights saffron’s long-term multiplied yields versus annual poppy crops and aims to change how Afghanistan is perceived while creating tangible income for farming communities." - Elazar Sontag