TED-Ed

Dig into the unique biology of saffron and trace humanity’s enduring obsession with the spice, dating back thousands of years. -- Spices are often far pricier proportionately than the foods they flavor. But one’s cost has long topped them all. Saffron’s red threads regularly run at rates of over 600 USD an ounce. So what is this so-called “red gold,” and what makes it so expensive? Carolyn Beans digs into the unique biology of saffron and humanity's enduring obsession with the spice. Lesson by Carolyn Beans, directed by Sarah Saidan. Support Our Non-Profit Mission ---------------------------------------------- Support us on Patreon: http://t.ted.com/nlVpzFN Check out our merch: http://t.ted.com/upNeDi3 ---------------------------------------------- Connect With Us ---------------------------------------------- Sign up for our newsletter: http://t.ted.com/R7iMQzr Follow us on Facebook: http://t.ted.com/NKcsscO Find us on Twitter: http://t.ted.com/nXsWmpA Peep us on Instagram: http://t.ted.com/zuDVFXP ---------------------------------------------- Keep Learning ---------------------------------------------- View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-is-saffron-so-expensive-carolyn-beans Dig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-is-saffron-so-expensive-carolyn-beans/digdeeper Animator's website: https://www.instagram.com/saidan.sarah/?hl=en Music: https://soundcloud.com/aim-music ---------------------------------------------- Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li, and Cristóbal Moenne.