THE RED GOLD of Morocco: SAFFRON made in Taliouine | MOROCCO TRAVEL GUIDE | S1 E16

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Taliouine, a small village in the Anti Atlas Mountains of Morocco. This village is famous for its production of the spice saffron. This spice is often referred to as “red gold” because it is one of the most expensive species in the world. After learning about the cultivation process, it is clear why!

Join us as we explore the village’s old Kasbah, saffron fields, and get a peek at some traditional Moroccan dishes made with this precious spice!

Special thanks go out to Kabira, the owner of the Coopérative Tawabil Tamazirte, who so generously let us tour the cooperative and taught us everything we now know about saffron.

Let us know what you thought about this video, we love to hear from you!

#morocco #travel #africa #guide #adventure
#saffron #spice #cooking #languagelearning

There is actually somebody over here. Very good, thank God! This is the saffron! This is what we put in our risotto! We’re trying to find a way out of here. We’re in a kitchen and are seeing some typical dishes that are made with saffron. For you.

The Moroccan people are really the best. They are so generous. Welcome to Taliouine. Today we’re starting our journey from the old Kasbah of Taliouine. We are right in between the cities of Ouarzazate and Agadir. We’re going to start here from the Kashab, from this symbolical place because

This was considered the administrative capital of the region. The Glaoui, the chief of the Glaoui Tribe, that lived in these mountains was in charge of this Kasbah, was in charge of this region. He was considered to be the Chief, the Lord, of the Atlas by the people around here.

He had a long story governing the region, so on and so on, Until the people of this region decided to oust him because He had too much going on with the French. With the colonialists let’s say.

And unfortunately, even though this kasbah had such an important role, politically especially, and from a certain point of view, even for it’s architecture, artistic role. Unfortunately this kasbah cannot really be visited today. As you can see, it’s completely walled in, I would say.

Because the government doesn’t have the money to rebuild or give a new life to this kasbah, to attract tourists. It’s easier to just do this and wall in a old building like this kasbah and kind of like, lose access to it.

So the thing I’m the most excited for about this place is to sample and buy some saffron. This place is the capital of saffron. It grows naturally here in the mountains and the lands. It is a huge source of income for the people that live here.

We’re going to go hopefully sample and buy some saffron so that I can bring it home and make a risotto milanese. And right on the other side of the Kasbah. We notice there is actually a tiny village around here.

There is some people that live here. It’s quite sad to see the kasbah be completely abandoned like that. That’s the case in many many different small towns in Morocco or all over North Africa. There is actually somebody over here. You will love this. Look at them living in the old kasbah. Wow!

So we just met these two women that were taking care of some sheep and goats and chickens. That were kind of in the ruins of this kasbah. But they asked us not to film because they said they’re not the owners of it

And maybe they just kind of generally didn’t feel comfortable being on camera. That’s kind of something that we’re noticing happens relatively frequently. Especially in these more small conservative Muslim towns. So we’re obviously going to respect their decision and go see what else we’re going to find today.

I’m just incredibly surprised by the inside. There is so much artistic beauty in that little yard. There was a door. It was so beautiful. Like an ancient door accessing the kasbah. Too bad. But like you said, it’s fine. We are going to film something else, there is so much beauty around here.

Let’s go see what else we can find. We were literally driving on the side of the road and Marissa just noticed a field. And to our surprise, I mean to my surprise at least, she recognized it right away, it’s a saffron field! I mean, look at this!

Here you can see the green stems of the saffron. Most of the saffron has already been picked today. Saffron, the flowers, are picked before sunrise because you need to pick them when they’re closed. But look here! You can see the red saffron that is growing. These are called pistils.

This is the saffron. This is what we put in our risotto! These three pieces. Every flower usually yields about three of these threads of saffron. Sometimes it can be more or less. We heard of four or five of these threads.

But usually it’s three, and it takes so much to yield even a small gram of saffron. Really beautiful. So the women that harvest these flowers they have to do it by hand because the flower is so fragile.

If you are doing this in the morning , before sunrise, you’re literally bent over like this. You can’t do it with a machine. So it is real manual labor. And it’s also why they try to pick them up very early in the morning because the flowers are still closed.

They say that it’s easier to just grab multiple flowers at the same time while bending. If they are open you can only do one at a time. So it takes much much longer to pick. So you have to be an early riser to pick saffron.

So we entered a little bit further into the farm. We can see that in addition to saffron they are also growing olives, specifically black olives. It’s really fascinating to be in such a dry landscape and then all of a sudden being in kind of like an oasis

Where there is literally everything from fruits…I think I even see some vegetables over there. You know, a small community of people living here taking care of these natural beauties. And in addition to that field we saw where flowers had already been picked, there was basically nothing left… what do we have here?

Another one! Another saffron field. You can see some of the purple flowers way in the distance. They have to wait a little bit until these flowers bloom. I mean, this is awesome! Look at this irrigation system! It’s amazing! I don’t even know where the water is coming from.

It’s great to see how well done…look at that! How good the water flows through here to feed the fields. And, it’s also being used to wash clothes. We saw several women washing their clothes in this water. We’re trying to find a way out of here. Following the stream.

Ah. We actually made it back to where we parked. So somehow, just follow the water when you lost. We somehow did a full circle! We were actually able to find a cooperative, a group of farmers that work together and sell their products.

They allowed us to come on their terrace and they gave us some of their products. Marissa is going to tell us more! I’m so happy to be here and also supporting this place because it is run by women. So it’s super exciting to be supporting a business run by women.

These are the bulbs, where the saffron grows! Even in a month it grows, which is so cool. And the final product is this! This beautiful purple flower. It takes more than 100 of these flowers to make just one gram of saffron.

And one gram of dried saffron goes for about 3.5 to 4 dollars here. But obviously when it is exported the price goes up and up. But here, it’s about 3.5 to 4 dollars. We are now following one of the women of the cooperative. She is going to show us something about saffron.

One of the women that works at this cooperative, Kabira, is going to show us some typical Moroccan dishes that are made with saffron. We’re in a kitchen and we are seeing some typical dishes that with saffron. So we have some chicken here. Wow! Typical color of saffron. Looks delicious!

It’s a very slow process. It takes a lot of time to cook all of this. And this is the couscous pot. Yeah, this is specifically for couscous. They have a specific pot. I remember my good friend Habib always using this one to make couscous.

So we are getting a lesson on couscous. Ah, it’s the last one. Is this a dish that people will eat regularly? Is this a typical dish? The women that pick saffron, do they use saffron in their cooking?

That’s actually the same for us because at home saffron is so expensive we only use it in some dishes. I told my mom last night that I bought her some saffron and she was so happy. I think I’m about to get a gift of a saffron flower. *laughs* Let’s see. Just one [flower]!

The Moroccan people are really the best. They are so generous. I know! So we just finished our tour of the cooperative. I think half of our suitcases are now saffron. This is just one of the many little jars that Marissa bought.

I am so happy to be supporting a woman owned business, here in Morocco. It was an amazing day to see how saffron is grown and cultivated. And now the next time I make a risotto or something with saffron, I will always think of this place. Let’s go now! Next stop!

Onto the next destination!