So Expensive Food Season 2 Marathon | So Expensive Food | Insider Business

from Colombia's indigenous Panela and India's bologna ghee to Kenya's single origin coffee and Japan's Olive wagyu we uncovered the stories behind some of the world's most expensive Foods our first stop is in Indonesia where the largest communities of one of the rarest lobsters on the planet exist these colorful Crustaceans are more than six times as expensive as Maine lobsters this Lobster is so valuable that people try to smuggle its larvae across international waters the ornate tropical Rock Lobster or the Pearl Lobster as it's better known can cost nearly 100 a kilogram making it six times as expensive as other popular varieties like Maine lobsters the colorful crustacean is one of the rarest and priceiest lobsters you can find but what makes the Pearl Lobster so special and why exactly is it so expensive Pearl lobsters are found throughout the Indian Ocean and were specific but the waters around Indonesia are where their largest communities exist they're known for their blue green shells rainbow colored spots and extra long antennae Pearl lobsters are also meatier and sweeter than other lobsters in ecas Bay Indonesia they're considered a popular delicacy and sold for a hefty profit is [Music] Abdul kasim has been fishing for lobsters for 29 years whenever it's not too windy he takes his boat to Rocky locations that could be home to Pearl lobsters the Fishers leave their Nets out overnight and return in the morning they also catch sand lobsters but Pearl lobsters are worth a lot more foreign any lobsters is large enough to be sold or brought to a seller [Music] due to government regulations prolobs does that weigh less than 200 grams must be brought to a breeder breeders like medium raised Pearl lobsters in captivity this method ensures a more reliable supply of lobsters then yeah but keeping them healthy is no easy feat the lobster Lobby or seeds as they're called are placed in Nets that float directly in the ocean exposed to natural elements modem takes his boat out to feed the lobsters every day it takes 18 months to fully breed Pearl Lobster seeds yoga the lobsters are also often attacked by pufferfish and barracudas who eat their legs if a lobster loses two legs from the same side it's considered defective and can't be sold yes the surviving lobsters will grow from 50 grams to the preferred selling weight of 500 grams to help protect their lobsters breeders check on the Nets throughout the week and repair any damage thank you it's a lot of work but it's worth it since Pearl lobsters have become one of the most valuable resources as Indonesian Fisheries to help strengthen the country's Lobster farming industry the Indonesian government has banned the exports of all Lobster Lobby this measure is also meant to protect its wild Lobster populations however theft and international smuggling attempts of Indonesia's Lobster larvae have not stopped back in Autumn 2022 authorities caught Smugglers transporting 2.2 million dollars worth of lobster Lobby the Indonesian government estimates that the country lost more than 64 million dollars in Revenue to Illegal exports in 2019. the demand for Indonesian lobsters particularly Pearl lobsters is very high in countries like Singapore China and Vietnam Pearl lobsters aren't even always available in Indonesia is many restaurants and hotels also buy pearl lobsters driving up the demand and prices the time of year impacts how expensive a pearl Lobster will be as well lobsters are more expensive in January and February because of all the Chinese New Year celebrations prices are also higher from August to September when International tourists come to visit during these months captive Pearl lobsters sell for around fifty dollars per kilogram and wild Pearl lobsters can sell for as much as 75 dollars per kilogram wild Pearl lobsters are always more expensive because they tend to be larger than their captive counterpods they also weigh more even when they're the same size so there's more meat to enjoy says [Music] despite the extravagant cost one of the most popular ways to eat Pearl Lobster is grilling it as a local outdoor restaurant manisla but despite popularity in Indonesia and throughout Asia its price has actually fallen over the years and its fluctuating value is concerning for the people whose livelihoods depend on it is [Music] or fattened Goose liver is costly and controversial fine dining staple and this foie gras is six times as expensive here in extremadura Spain Eduardo Sosa is one of the few people in the world making what his supporters call ethical foie gras up up many consider foie gras to be unethical because it's typically made by force-feeding ducks or geese to fasten their livers Eduardo does things differently and it makes his product incredibly pricey a 180 gram jar costs over two hundred dollars but what exactly makes this foie gras ethical and why is it so expensive [Music] when the weather turns cold and the bird migration season begins wild geese join the tamed geese on Eduardo's Farm here the geese Feast upon grass acorns olives figs and different seeds foreign foreign [Music] the birds Eduardo simply relies on the geese's natural behaviors [Music] there are no fences here the geese are free to come and go as they please Eduardo says the geese eat more grass when they're free to roam he says this is essential because the grass apparently makes the acorns taste sweeter to the geese and the more acorns the geese eat the tastier and yellower their livers will be while Eduardo prefers to let the geese eat what they want he does provide them with Organic corn to make their livers more yellow is [Music] during this time of year geese stuff themselves full of food to prepare for their winter migration this quickly builds fat and enlarges their livers the perfect conditions for creating foie gras when it's time for the slaughter Eduardo uses a traditional technique to stun the geese hypnosis he says this makes the process as painless as possible it happens only once a year during the coldest part of winter when the geese have the most fat it also has to be a moonless night [Music] s a number [Music] Eduardo suagua is so highly sought after because of how flavorful it is to preserve its unique flavor profile Eduardo prepares his foie gras very simply um [Music] a maraville is foreign Especial so despite the high demand Eduardo won't make more than 2 000 batches a year he says he's committed to maintaining the wild geese population and heavily discourages over consumption unlike most foie gras producers Corona celebrity um foreign [Music] in recent years climate change has pushed back the Farm's traditional Foie Grant making timeline is [Music] foreign [Music] as he calls it has an extremely long waiting list every year there was limited demand for Eduardo's wargraw until 2006 when he and his team won the coveted kudoku award at the seal Food Expo in Paris foreign address despite challenges and criticism from other foie gras producers Eduardo's product has only continued to become more popular foreign costs 199 euros and sells out every year normal despite the Hefty price tag Eduardo says he doesn't see much of a profit from his foie gras geese require more land than other livestock most people in his area prefer to raise Iberian pigs which are very profitable but it wasn't Eduardo's family who invented the natural foie gras tradition foreign a is [Music] foreign [Music] this kilogram of baby eels has just sold for over seven thousand dollars Angola's the young of the European eel their delicacy in Spain where every year they're auctioned off for thousands of dollars but angulas are tiny fishes need to catch 3 000 of them to reach one kilo a task that requires spending entire nights in the water in total darkness braving strong tides and stormy seas and while angula surprised for their crunchy texture they have a very mild taste almost non-existent so who buys baby eels and why are these fish so expensive it's midnights in Riverdale in the north of Spain and it's the first day of the baby eel season is no company has been fishing eels for the last 33 years he's one of 46 Fishers here in Rio decision who were licensed to fish and ghoulas tonight marks the beginning of a four-month-long season is the fishing takes place at night when the eels are most active the first thing Manolo does is assess the water right now although awake the eels are hiding in the sand so he relies on the movement of the water to reveal them is to fish Manolo uses a custom Rake called a theater address is [Music] manila's timing needs to be spot on if he lifts the rate one second later than he should the same wave that pushed the eel into his net can also wash it back into the sea about you [Music] even with the right equipment baby eel fishing has a serious risk of coming back empty-handed that's because there is one thing Manolo can't predict the weather is tonight is also a full moon while it may give him some light on this dark Beach it's not ideal as some eels May confuse it with daytime and stay buried in the sand [Music] foreign [Music] this change of beach is a gamble for Manolo there is no guarantee there will be eels there that's because much is still unknown about their life cycle [Music] the angulis's journey starts very far away in the sargasso sea a region of the Atlantic Ocean close to the Caribbean there adult eels spawn and die and their hatchlings travel through the Gulf Stream until they reach the coast of Spain seeking fresh water [Music] when they arrive the angulos are transparent as they move out of the salty ocean and into rivers higher temperature of the fresh water will turn them from transparent to black as they mature into adult eels catching them before this transition occurs is essential but the eel's exact journey is unknown and it's impossible to predict the number of angulas that will arrive at the start of the seasons this unpredictability makes manolo's job even more difficult [Music] [Music] although the night is not going so well the eels Manila finds tonight will be the most expensive of the season that's because buyers will pay a premium for the first night's catch [Music] [Music] foreign 90 grams tonight he doesn't know how much it will be worth yet [Music] before the eels are sold at the auction workers at Lee by the seizure Market clean them with a sponge to remove all the excess water that could affect their weight 1.4 kilos arrived at the market today the total catch of all fishes working last night on a good day the total catch can weigh 5 or 6 kilos today's low total will make this auction even more competitive bitters for the angulos are typically restaurants in the area and the lucky Chef who will get to cook the eels is there in person to make the bid it is Manuel is the Chef at El campanu a restaurant in rivasia he holds the record for the highest ever bid his restaurant paid 6 620 Euros per kilo in 2019. [Music] [Music] the auction itself is very quiet it's done using a screen and each buyer has a remote control that they use to make their bid is [Music] Manuel made it he gets to cook the first kilo of angulus of the season for 7 280 Euros that's a new record high foreign [Music] out of the whole batch those 90 grams that Manolo fished last night were worth 655 Euros today [Music] but not all baby eels cost over 7 000 Euros cost is variable depending on the time of year that's why for Fishers like Manolo it's impossible to rely on just angular fishing for a living is [Music] [Music] heavily regulated Fishers like Manolo are only allowed to fish baby eels between November and February with five mandatory rest days each month each Fisher needs to hold a license and certain beaches are no fishing zones breaking any of these rules can cost as much as 6 000 Euros these regulations mean that the price of angulis has skyrocketed in recent decades companies [Music] in the last 50 years the demand for the increasingly scarce eels has risen so much that ghoulas achieve a copy of baby eels were born goulas are made of tsurimi the same fish paste used to make imitation crab and cost 62 times less than angulus they are now just as popular as the real thing this makes cooking with real baby eels a delicate task for chefs like Manuel he needs to make sure the subtle Taste of the angula shines through and that they don't lose their texture or they could be mistaken for their cheap imitation angoulas can't be cooked alive because they'll release slime so Manuel treats them with a tobacco infusion first [Music] he then removes The Unwanted Slime by hand foreign [Music] yelmas important [Music] Blanca is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] despite the proliferation of ghoulas in the last few years real angulas have enjoyed increased popularity the first day auctions generates a lot of Buzz with chefs arriving from all over Spain to make their bids is baby eels have become so popular that overfishing and smuggling are serious risks in 2017 Spanish police uncovered an international trafficking operation headed for China which included 2 million euros worth of angulus but it's unclear if the seasons to come will be able to support this rise in demand the European eel is listed as critically endangered and fewer and fewer baby eels arrive at the beaches of river seizure each year is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] there are different theories for this decline including climate change Habitat deterioration pollution and overfishing but for Manolo fishing angulas is not about money is [Music] foreign [Music] pound of coffee beans Farmers need to harvest more than 1500 of these cherries each one contains two seeds that will be sorted processed and roasted before they reach your cup in 2022 the average U.S price for a pound of coffee was 5.89 but there's a specialty category called single origin coffee that can easily cost over 30 dollars per pound some exclusive harvests cost over 80 dollars per pound so what makes this coffee so special and why is it so expensive it's November in Neary County Kenya and the coffee Harvest is in full swing there are over 12.5 million coffee farms in the world almost 95 percent are owned by smallholders like Joseph he runs a one acre Farm part of which he inherited from his parents coffee is all about equality if you produce coffee with a higher quality the higher prices you get for your coffee grows differently depending on the altitude climate soil and sun Farms here sit around 1700 meters above sea level in Rich volcanic soil the coffee grow very slow they take long time to mature at the local coffee take time to mature the better the quality almost everywhere every farmer is growing coffee high altitude coffee produces fruity and floral flavors drinking coffee brewed from Beans exclusively from one region ensures that those distinct flavors come through it's what's called single origin coffee the quality and unique taste are the biggest reasons it can cost so much but achieving that quality isn't easy the terrain here is too uneven for machines so farmers pick the coffee by hand one Cherry at a time for coffee ripeness is key um foreign Mary has been growing coffee for over 25 years kutoka economic 50 something each branch has ripe and unripe cherries so she has to pay close attention while picking the way coffee is harvested here in Kenya is very different from how it's done in Brazil the world's largest coffee producer on huge farms with flat terrain the Harvest is mechanized the trees are at a lower elevation and the yields are higher mechanized production is more efficient but this efficiency can hurt quality control when the whole tree is picked at once ripe and unripe cherries are lumps together this is commodity coffee destined for mass production and Industrial use its price is low and volatile the highest quality coffee is called specialty coffee this coffee has unique attributes that expert tasters called Q graders rate the highest single origin coffee is often rated at the highest end of specialty coffee because of its distinct flavors both specialty coffee and a lot of commodity coffee come from the same plant Cafe Arabica but not all arabica coffee is created equal this can of ground coffee is 100 Arabica it costs around eight dollars a pound in 2022 a single origin coffee grown in Panama sold for over six thousand dollars a pound at auction also 100 Arabica the better the flavor and the smaller the Harvest the more expensive the coffee back at Mary's Farm there's still work to be done after harvesting workers sort the cherries to weed out any defects these negatively impact the flavor and lower the price of the coffee but they need to work quickly processing coffee soon after harvest is key to maintaining its quality [Music] processing infrastructure is expensive so most farms in Kenya share centralized facilities foreign over a thousand Farmers from the region bring their coffee here each processing method has a different impact on taste but they all have the same end goal separate the seed from the fruit these are the five stages of coffee processing the red cherry the wet parchment dry parchment green coffee and roasted coffee beans this is the washed process it's the most common way to process coffee in Kenya after weighing and inspecting the coffee workers remove the outer skin in a process called depulping [Music] then they place it in fermentation tanks where it rests for 12 to 14 hours fermentation breaks down the mucilage the sticky inner layer of the fruit so it can be washed away the next day workers push coffee through a series of channels cleaning off the seeds this is also where one of several grading processes takes place work and separate lower quality less dense beans which float to the surface even though these beans sell for Less they still provide important income to producers the denser coffee flows to soaking tanks to ensure any remaining mucilage is removed once the seed is free the coffee flows out of the tanks and onto drying tables Roasters sell coffee either as a blend of beans from different countries or a single origin but there's no officially agreed upon definition of the term it can refer to a form a Cooperative or a country consumers who buy this type of coffee are usually seeking a particular flavor or aroma the costs of processing transportation and running a roasting business are all bundled into the price customers pay for coffee it's so expensive to get coffee here everything from the farm to the port everything has gone up the box is where we ship your coffee first subscriptions or at home consumption that packaging has gone up with single origin single producer when you have the producer's name it's an indicator that we paid more for that coffee because of the relationship if you're paying in the range of 21 to 26 dollars it's because we've invested in these areas that are important to us and we hope are important to them companies like metric play an important role in the coffee supply chain most coffee is consumed outside of the country it's produced in and how coffee is roasted has a big impact on its taste getting the best flavor out of single origin coffee requires careful roasting coffee is roasted in big machines like this Roasters take green coffee and heat it evenly to develop its flavor this is 20 pounds of Costa Rican honey processed coffee from solisi Cordero which is the husband and wife team in terrazoo horror uses sight smell and senses to track how the roast is developing finding the ideal roast level for each coffee is a skill that takes years to master this drawer that I'm using is called the Trier and it allows us to see the color of the development as we go through the rows and also to smell how the coffee is smelling the green coffee will smell kind of like hay or grass you'll smell it gets sweeter and sweeter and sweeter you can smell some of that acidity come out it'll smell almost vinegary-ish as soon as that vinegar starts to fade just a little bit and there's a sweet fruitiness and a sweet baked goods in this that's our finished development metric roasts coffee before harma releases it into the cooling tray to stop the roasting process by comparison commodity Coffee Roasters favor a darker roast which can cover up defects and make a blend of beans from different countries taste more uniform while dark roasts are generally bitter medium and light roasts offer more sweetness and bright acidity you can blast it for a minute and a lot of commodity coffee is just blasted as quick as possible but it really rushes through all of those phases that develop over the flavors going through those steps to get exactly the best qualities out of that cup we don't add anything to Coffee everything was intrinsically there as the raw product from the farmer from the growing conditions light roasts also highlight the unique flavors of a region allowing two single origin coffees to taste very different the tricky part about single origin versus blend is that you can achieve Stellar results with Blends and sometimes really subpar with single origin and the same thing can be the other way around how a coffee is processed can have a big impact on its flavor and price the washed process produces delicious coffee but it's expensive and can be wasteful we use a lot of water and there is a many challenges how to dispose that waste water but we are trying to work our net by recycling the water we are using after spreading out the coffee workers move it to a clean set of tables where they continuously turn it by hand this coffee takes around 14 days to reach a desired moisture content of 11 to 12 percent the goal is uniform beans free of defects coffee at this stage is called parchment coffee because of the paper-like layer of material that surrounds the seed before producers ship the coffee they Mill it to remove the parchment this is a small machine used for local consumption when Milling large quantities the coffee goes through another round of grading each country has its own methods of grading in Kenya each Bean is classified by size the shape and color of the bean also impact the grade but often the larger denser beans are the most expensive after months of work producers are left with what's called green coffee this is the product that will be exported and roasted in consuming countries but this is also when the process becomes more opaque Farmers don't always know how much a buyer pays an exporter so they don't know if they're being cut out of potential profit The Benchmark for the price of arabica coffee follows What's called the Sea Market it's an exchange like the stock market where traders buy and sell contracts based on the expected future value of coffee but it doesn't consider the quality of the coffee and the price is volatile which makes it hard for Farmers to operate sustainably in 2019 the average closing price was one dollar and two cents per pound its lowest point that year 87 cents despite inflation and increased cost of production the Sea Market is almost the same as it was in 1980. Joseph is able to operate profitably but that isn't the case for many farmers around the world a 2019 study found that 44 of smallholder coffee farmers were living in poverty [Music] specialty coffee is bought at a premium above the commodity price Joseph makes around three dollars and eighteen cents a pound due to the high quality of our coffee there is a lot of demand but our expectation is that the demand should go with higher prices he says 4.55 cents a pound would be more sustainable but his prices have actually decreased over the past few years I don't know the reason why mostly reactored what the market has flooded their coffee but we still need more explanation on why the coffee is going down when we are still trying our best to maintain our quality coffee for those who are producing less than 5 kilos from One Tree they are not even breaking even the effort we make to produce Lati quality coffee I can say we are not well compensated by those prices growing coffee requires steep Investments which don't always pay off for farmers many Roasters in the industry are working towards direct trade Partnerships that benefit the coffee producer I'm looking to do two things Source high quality coffees but also establish year-over-year relationships some Roasters also publish the prices they pay for green coffee but the level of transparency varies Wheels Roasters need to do our job to educate consumers as to the difference between a product from Colombia that's Source barely the source with full transparency in a product of Colombia that has no traceability and is cheap if it's cheap coffee that means that somebody in the supply chain is not making it and it's chances are it's going to be the producer they're the ones that lost at retail coffee from this region of Kenya has sold for 22.50 for a 12 ounce bag that's over nine times what the farmers are paid but just comparing those two numbers doesn't tell the whole story even when producers are paid a premium there will always be a markup between coffee cherries and roasted coffee Roasters typically pay more for single origin coffee but there's no definitive premium the real truth of it is that you can buy copied at commodity pricing that actually meets specialty standards for so long the market has been so low and then the quality has been so high that producers need to sell their coffee they need to earn a living because if they're not earning enough to cover the cost of production not earning enough to just meet the minimum requirements to have a decent way of life they're going to be agile that is what's happening all over the world many throughout the specialty coffee are working towards more transparency better pay for producers and more access to research and best practices ultimately when coffee prices are low the producers are the ones hurt the most [Music] if boiled just right this clear transparent juice will turn into a thick gooey syrup this process is the basis of making vanilla a type of unrefined raw sugar vanilla is beloved in Colombia where it's commonly consumed in place of processed white sugar but this sweet nectar doesn't come cheap in the U.S it can cost 20 times more than white sugar and in Colombia depending on where it's made Panella can cost up to 17 000 pesos per kilogram the purest form of Panella is made by the indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta the highest Coastal mountain range in the world here long distances high temperatures and limited resources make vanilla much more valuable than any other type of sugar so how is wild vanilla made and is this what makes it so expensive is [Music] this is Antonio izakogi one of the four indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada to make vanilla Antonio uses a Sugar Mill made out of wood is using the smell is hard work it takes three three running while another one directs The Mule that powers it foreign foreign [Applause] sugar from the cane juice Antonio and the others boil it along with water it took Antonio and the others two hours to extract enough sugarcane juice to fill this pot he uses dried sugar cane to fuel the fire associated spoils quickly and at very high temperatures so hot that some of the sugar caramelizes during the boiling process the juice is constantly stirred and perched to the bottom of the pot where the temperature is higher Antonio then removes the water revealing the sugar at the bottom of the pot [Applause] at this stage when the sugar has a thick gooey texture it is called honey it is especito was it into these molds where it will rest for a few hours and become vanilla Milling sugarcane and boiling its juice like this preserves the Molasses naturally present in the sugar cane which is usually removed in refined white sugar or removed and added back in in brown sugar the Molasses gives the vanilla a more complex caramel flavor and makes it richer in minerals and vitamins but this can only happen if the weather is right today the weather is a bit too hot so the honey needs to be bottled and transported to another Village at a higher altitude to harden correctly when the vanilla is dry it is sold in one kilogram portions like this one with 10 buckets of sugarcane Antonio can get 12 vanillas Charlie is a but it's not just the process that makes vanilla different from other types of sugar it's the sugar cane it comes from um a Kawana Blanca Italian has lived here for the last 12 years he's a local guide connecting visitors to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta with his native Corgi traditions foreign [Music] [Music] white sugar cane is native to this area of the Sierra Nevada and is what the Corgi Community uses for its Panella as he harvests Augustine also selects the best seeds to make new plants foreign [Music] it takes a whole year for sugarcane to grow and it heavily depends on the weather while formed varieties can rely on a constant supply of water the sugar cane here in the Sierra no other relies on Rivers rainfall and melt water from ice caps making them high in fiber but low in sugar Farm varieties on the other hand yield more sugar but a low in fiber the sugarcane here is also very fragile and proximity to other plants May kill it foreign [Music] will walk to Antonio's Mill where sugarcane will be turned into honey and then vanilla all over again Grande is both the dry vanilla and the gooey honey are in a central part of the Corgi diet they're used in drinks like agua Panella an infusion of vanilla in hot water but are also consumed on special occasions like marriages and baptisms Panella has an advantage over honey it can be stored for longer and it can be sold more recently and only to those who ask the community has started selling it but the moment that vanilla leaves the Sugar Mill its price Rises this is the main road in this part of the Sierra but vanilla produces to find buyers they have to walk to the closest Village and that can take hours oh foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in town this Panela can cost up to 17 000 pesos per kilogram that's more than four times the price of vanilla made from Farm sugarcane but these high prices are exactly what the community wants in the last few years the indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have worked hard to Market their product fairly and invest in better infrastructure another one of these four communities has partnered with the UN and Eco petrol a major gas company to modernize its sugar Mills and get a license to sell wild vanilla abroad the global rise in Fame of benella as a healthy alternative to sugar is also contributing to increased demand vanilla made from Farm sugar canes has reached over 36 dollars per kilogram while indigenous varieties aren't yet exported but there is a difference between what is currently available to Consumers and the indigenous vanilla Colombia is one of the world's top sugar cane producers producing 2.3 million metric tons of sugarcane annually most sugar cane is formed in giant monoculture plantations and needs excessive amounts of water to survive according to the UN sugarcane requires more water than any other crop to reach maturity more than soy and Maize in the last decade sugarcane has also been used to make ethanol which is considered an important biofuel this is ramped up sugarcane monocultures even more and sugarcane crops now take up to 60 million acres of land worldwide the overabundance of banella made from Farm sugarcane diminishes the competitiveness of the wild banana in the market like the one Antonio and agostin use here in the Seattle Narada [Music] [Music] foreign but the isolation of the mountains makes keeping vanilla alive here challenging in the last few years snow has almost disappeared from some peaks in the Sierra Nevada this means no melt water in the summer a crucial resource for sugarcane the warming climate is also making it hard for Panella to dry fully and more and more families are either skipping the drawing step and just making honey which is more perishable and harder to sell or they're moving their sugarcane Mills to higher even more remote Mountain slopes foreign angle okay [Music] this is one of the rarest steaks in the world known as Olive wagyu it costs over 500 a pound which is almost 60 percent more expensive than other high grade cuts of wagyu produced by feeding wagyu cows a special feed made from olives it's one of the most expensive meats you can buy um the technique of feeding olives to wagyu cows was actually only developed in recent decades and the steak wasn't always this pricey is so what makes Olive wagyu different from other wagyu and why is it so expensive the sun is rising overshodoshima in Japan's Inland Sea masaki ishi has been raising Castle here for half a century foreign Island was once famed for its azuki beans but after olive trees were introduced from Greece just over a century ago it became more famous as the home of Japan's oldest Olive Groves Solutions [Music] wagyu beef is already known for its intense marbling and high levels of oleic acid both of which make the meat extra tender and flavorful masaki set out to create a wagyu even richer in oleic acid um [Music] but instead of using fresh olives asaki turned to Olive pomes the residue from olive oil production doing so allowed him to recycle a waste product from one of shudoshima's major industries [Music] [Music] Olive pumice still contains a lot of oil drying it is a difficult and costly process one that took masaki almost six years to perfect it is foreign masaki starts mixing the dried pumice into their feed every day [Music] foreign [Music] comes in to check on his cows while they're still asleep [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] doesn't ship out until 30 months the longer raising time and high cost of the feed make Olive wagyu difficult to come by but despite the limited Supply it has become especially popular with chefs unique foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you when masaki first started experimenting with olives he kept it a secret from his buyers but in 2010 an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Miyazaki prefecture devastated Japan's livestock industry despite successful efforts to contain the disease locally the damage was done countries like the United States suspended beef imports from Japan disaster struck again with the thorohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. as Japan struggled to recover and rebuild its economy masaki looked towards strengthening his prefectures beef production he led the charge towards working with more local Olive farmers in 2012 other Farmers unsure doshima started following masaki's methods to raise Olive fed cattle just one year later Olive wagyu began shipping to places outside of shradoshima and Kagawa prefecture [Music] today there are about 2 500 Olive fed cattle on shodoshima still this is nothing compared to places like kagoshima or Miyazaki where high quality wagyu production has been taking place for decades on masaki's Farm there are just 20 head of cattle [Music] Oz [Music] to reach this goal the cattle farmers of shodoshima need help from the local Olive producers [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] continuously churned these bolognas for up to an hour if they stop for even a second this batch of ghee will be ruined binonagi is clarified butter that's hand churned using a certain type of wooden beater called abelona and made from the milk of South Asian cow breeds in general ghee is more expensive than traditional butter and in India ghee made this way can cost over three times as much as Factory mate ghee but there are plenty willing to pay the price is so why is this ghee risen to the top [Music] and cooking it's commonly eaten on chapati lentils rice and more subscribe because of the clarification process Keys flavor is nuttier and more concentrated than butter but aside from taste there are practical reasons to choose ghee over butter without any milk solids ghee can be stored for a longer time without spoiling plus it has a higher smoke point than butter which means it's better suited for cooking at high temperatures making this nutty nutritious ghee requires thyme specialized equipment and happy cows bavish's process starts at 5 30 in the morning in Rajasthan India whereas most butter is made by churning cream this type of ghee is made like cheese by separating curds and whey from milk the cream method is mechanized and is what's used commercially to make a lot of ghee quickly whereas the billona method is done completely by hand on bavish's form he and his team need 30 hours to produce just one kilogram of ghee [Music] good ghee requires a good pod which bavish must select with his ears according to bhavish a good pot Rings like a bell while a low quality one has invisible flaws that make it sound flat scores the perfect important because because the entire process from raw milk to ghee takes place inside it after heating the milk from morning to night and then letting it cool until the next day he adds a starter to the milk to jump start the curdling process Ary [Music] approx 45 degrees Celsius the ghee is left to culture fermenting the milk in this way allows the ghee to develop complex flavors not commonly found in other types of butter [Music] is [Music] using rope and a post for stability and sushila twist the bilona back and forth to agitate the curd foreign the bologna method goes back thousands of years and the tools haven't changed much it only takes around two hours to make a bologna by hand from shisham wood but you have to be in the right place to buy one barish sources new bolognas from Elders in the village [Music] while the bologna is in use the wood absorbs oil from the gate this helps to preserve the tool and extend its life [Music] it takes about an hour of continuous churning to separate the butter from the buttermilk please the results of all that churning is this maccon or cultured butter to turn it into ghee bavish Heats it up again oiling the butter clarifies it which means the liquid is separate from the milk solids the longer he cooks the ghee the nuttier the aroma and deeper its golden color The Sweet Spot is usually around one to two hours what's left in the pot is bologna key ready to be shipped out and eaten but only after a blessing from sushila is H and his family have made ghee for Generations but in 2020 he took his business online in 2022 the global ghee Market peaked at 49.2 billion dollars some estimates expect that number to hit 73.5 billion dollars by 2028 and demand for a product like barbish's continues to grow as well even when it can cost around three times as much as the industrial version that's because his ghee comes from these indigenous cows all of these cows are South Asian breeds popularly known as this equals at their sea cow produces about 10 to 12 liters of milk a day that's half as much as industrial cows and nothing can happen if a calf isn't around but bavish says the quality of their milk makes up for the lower yield this is to make just one liter of ghee so when demand is high barish buys milk from other farmers in the village to keep up ghee made using barbish's methods from the milk of indigenous cows is often marketed as A2 desigi A2 refers to a specific type of protein found in milk beta casein wild milk from Western dairy cows contains both A1 and A2 beta casein milk from their sea cows only contains the A2 protein in researching what this difference means a 2016 study found that A2 milk was easier for people with lactose intolerance to digest for many of barbish's customers the difference between A1 and A2 ghee is an ayurvedic and religious one this is [Music] biggest [Music] biggest service [Music] exercise [Music] [Music] squeezing every last drop stirring for hours and seesawing all night this is Korean rice syrup and this is what it takes to make it young and his daughter Sujin are extracting the main ingredient of rice syrup shiko a mixture of steamed rice hot water and body malt foreign syrup an incomparable sweetness but also brings the price up a one kilogram bottle of artisanal rice syrup can reach 140 dollars so how long does it actually take to make chicken and is this why rice syrup is so expensive [Music] yongoon runs a workshop with his daughter Sujin in Zhang pyong South charara Province South Korea in 2000 the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture food and Rural Affairs named him the 21st Grand Master for his expertise in rice syrup and rice Taffy um [Music] foreign [Music] foreign syrup is to ferment cooked rice with barley malt the rice ferments for 10 hours under a blanket to minimize temperature change this sweet solution is called yeah quicker fermentation methods that use artificial enzymes exist but the rich complex flavors produced by Young goon's longer method are what sets his rice syrup apart from mass-produced alternatives in South Korea there is a big difference between artisanal white syrup made with Shiki and the one made with artificial enzymes artisanal Syrup can be as much as three times as expensive while premium artisanal syrup like young goons costs up to six times as much thank you to separate the Chica from the rice wrap the rice in a hemp bag and then drain the liquid through a bamboo plank [Music] to extract the last drops of chica sit on the plank and see-saw on it they have to work at night if they want to make rice syrup in the morning after making chicken is much more than sea-sawing it can only be made if the rice is cooked properly steam the rice in an iron pot before pouring the rice they wrap the pot in cloth to prevent the steam from leaking [Music] foreign cooks for one and a half to two hours young and Sujin constantly check the fire to make sure the rice Cooks evenly to make one kilogram of syrup young needs five times the amount of rice in other parts of South Korea different types of traditional syrup exist made from corn or sweet potatoes but here in South charar Province rice is an important resource and is the preferred choice to make syrup foreign compared to other cereals rice is much more difficult to process to ferment and become Chic it needs this sprouted barley young cultivates its hair on rotation with rice foreign [Music] is looking for a length of one centimeter to one and a half centimeters this length can take up to 10 days to achieve and The Barley needs to be rinsed and checked daily this is what truly sets apart his rice syrup less premium versions of Roy syrup are made with shorter Sprouts so the barley holes can be repurposed after The Malt is extracted foreign mixes The Barley sprouts with water and with the help of Sujin squeezes The Barley to extract The Malt after 10 hours of fermentation and a long night of sea sawing the get is finally ready to be cooked down into a syrup yong-un uses a traditional iron pot called okomosu which gives richness to the syrup foreign a pot like this can cost up to one million won um foreign because the pot retains so much heat young must monitor the fire at all times as well as stir the syrup constantly if something goes wrong and the heat is too strong the syrup may burn if stirred too long it's texture will harden Japanese thank you it can take up to three hours to reach the right consistency is foreign the container where the syrup is stored is important this type of pot is called ongi and a large one like this can cost 750 000 won yeah while the process is lengthy customers are recognizing its value and the demand for rice syrup is increasing companies outside of South Korea have started making wine syrup and the global industry is expected to exceed 1 billion dollars in 2032. and while large-scale consumption of processed sugar is hurting rice syrup in the local Korean market the syrup has gained popularity abroad in the U.S premium syrups can reach 140 dollars per kilogram but rice syrup is different from other sweeteners [Music] because white syrup tastes less sweet than table sugar you would need larger quantities to match sugar sweetness when cooking rice syrup also has a higher glycemic index so using it as a direct substitute for sugar could actually do more harm than good good but making white syrup alone isn't enough for workshops like Youngs to survive rice syrup is the main ingredient in hangwa a general term for Korean confectionaries but most of all the syrup is the base for yut a type of rice Taffy which is in high demand locally Taffy can be stored for longer than raw Syrup can but it's challenging to make it spoiled for six hours is much stickier than syrup and must be stretched like this over 30 times young and Sujin always work in pairs is determined to keep the tradition alive [Music] foreign foreign of pepper from One Tree Farmers produce four different colors compared to common black pepper Comfort pepper offers a stronger flavor and aroma chefs and locals describe it as pungent fruity and citrusy online a kilo of black gumbot peppercorns can cost over 70 dollars the rarest white peppercorns can cost over one hundred dollars per kilogram the wholesale price of regular black pepper from Cambodia is less than four dollars per kilogram s Boone like his father before him is a pepper farmer he follows strict requirements so that he can sell his pepper as gumpot if everything goes well there could be big profits but this year won't be easy voon could lose half of his Harvest and the profits that come with it so what does the future have in store for this rare pepper and why is it so expensive only pepper grown in these specific areas of Southern Cambodia can be sold as compote in 2016 the European Union awarded pepper grown here and in neighboring cat Province a protected geographical indication a PGI states that the environmental factors of this region make the pepper unique like real champagne or Darjeeling tea for Farmers like voon the price premium from the PGI is essential s growing pepper is hard work even on large Farms workers pick each cluster by hand the berries are small and Vines can grow over five meters tall foreign depending on how long berries stay on the vine and how they're processed Farmers produce either black red or white pepper and while there is demand for green peppercorns workers can't just pick everything all at once picking too early means pepper can't be used for the more valuable red and white peppercorns the longer a pepper stays on the vine the more it ripens developing the flavor is [Music] that movie [Music] the demand for compact pepper outside of Cambodia grew in the late 19th century when French colonists started exporting it to Europe compound pepper is so special that nobody can really just use a word to describe the whole thing but to me compared pepper is it's intense it's spicy it's pungent it has a very very beautiful fragrance that's very important but another thing that is special about it also is about the coloring that it's stay beautiful and fresh so long long time for me you know growing up in Cambodia and use a compound pepper all my life and then use other pepper as almost like I'm using the pepper that is not peppery but it's also a bit earthy and not as pungent and also not fragrant it's very very hard to compare so the process of roasting it helps the peppers to spread out the aroma and thus also make a dish very fragrant and beautiful we're gonna be adding a few rows of this fresh and green peppercorn it looks beautiful really beautiful okay for me cooking amazing Cambodian Cuisine it starts from each individual ingredients so peppercorn is one of them but Cambodia has a lot more to tell through food [Music] foreign [Music] last year Boone harvested around 500 kilos but this year he might not even get half of that is using natural fertilizer and no harmful pesticides are two of several certification requirements voon must follow [Music] numbers says if Farmers don't follow these rules they could be kicked out of the association foreign foreign thank you [Music] [Music] back at voon's house he sorts the pepper by ripeness and removes any defects careful clean sorting is also part of maintaining certification [Music] thank you after sorting voon and his family wash the peppercorns then they lay them out on raised beds to dry [Music] as the pepper ripens it turns from green to Yellow to red each color peppercorn undergoes a different process and each has its own culinary use formers draw yellow green pepper into black peppercorns which have a strong spiciness and Aroma their taste is more floral compared to unripe green pepper red peppercorns are sweeter and have a fruitier aroma chefs also use them in some desserts to get white peppercorns groom boils The Ripe berries and removes the skin by hand fresh grass lime and even anise chefs also use white peppercorns to avoid black speckles in sauces [Music] to remove the skin Boone presses the peppercorns against the side of this basket foreign ly Boone is ready to sell his pepper [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] depending on the year it grows around 8 to 12 percent of cambodia's compote pepper one of the owners Natalie doesn't find demand to be an issue she's optimistic about gunpot's future I think every year where we sell our whole production and we buy a lot from small farmers I think about people will grow because you know tourism also is back so more and more people are coming back to Cambodia all the people when they try Compass paper you know they fell in love with a compact paper so no risk that the demand will will decrease the plantation has access to overseas markets that smaller producers don't to meet International demand the company buys and processes pepper from other farmers in the region what is important for us also is to help the small farmers who cannot access to International Market so we as a farmer producer and exporter we buy a lot every year of compact paper from small 5 million farms and they are doing a fantastic paper so we are very proud of the paper and the quality of the pepper produced large Farms have the resources to navigate the fluctuating market and to cash in on the tourist potential of the protected geographical indication much like a Vineyard La Plantation has opened its fields to visitors for tours and tastings but if demand doesn't increase large Farms could make it difficult for smaller Farmers to compete [Music] even in the face of these challenges voon says he can weather the competition uh [Music] we are [Music] going to change my community wholesale prices for compact peppercorns range from 15 to 28 per kilo depending on the color but prices can reach even higher La Plantation sells black peppercorns for 50 per kilogram and white and red for sixty dollars per kilogram online it charges almost double that for comparison other peppercorns produced in Cambodia sold for around 3.45 cents per kilogram in 2022 since earning the geographical indication compote Pepper's production has increased dramatically from around 16 metric tons in 2010 to over 100 in 2021 although it's still less than one percent of cambodia's pepper Harvest each year and the wholesale prices of Gumball Pepper have tripled since 2009 which means more profit for Farmers like phone the problem is demand the annual production aims to satisfy tourists and Export markets but recently there's been oversupply in 2022 Cambodia exported around 79 metric tons a 31 drop from the year before the compart pepper promotion Association attributes this slump to a reduction in international spending this can be a challenge for small farmers if there isn't enough demand they might have to sell their pepper below the market price some Farmers have moved on from pepper production altogether there's been about a seven percent decrease in the number of compact producers since 2019. even so the total number of producers is still 70 percent higher than it was in 2015. Boone's family has been farming Pepper for decades but like many in Cambodia they had to stop in the 70s during the deadly camaroos regime after some time they were able to start again voon's Farm now has around 600 Vines [Music] [Music] sticky white milky Queen is royal jelly and within a hive it's especially reserved for queen bees [Music] also known as the superfood of the Beehive it is more nutrient Rich than honey and is 20 times more expensive Queens live 50 times longer than other bees and while there is no scientific evidence for it the health food industry is determined to attribute this longevity to royal jelly and now people are eating it too for 125 dollars per pound but harvesting this Elixir can be painstaking and can only be done by hand if it's done incorrectly young queen bees can be killed in the process so is royal jelly really worth it and why is it so expensive [Music] has been harvesting royal jelly for decades [Music] thank you foreign [Music] season rapeseed flowers have bright yellow petals that are wide at the tip allowing bees to collect more nectar and pollen than other flowers it's during this time that the Beehive population is largest and most productive which is ideal for harvesting lots of high quality royal jelly traveled 600 kilometers to get here in shayang County Hubei Province to raise his bees he arrived four months ago and today he's starting to harvest royal jelly [Music] um there are three types of bees born in the hive workers which are sterile female bees drones the male bees and queens which are the fertile female bees as larvae all bees grow in these tiny cells and consume royal jelly but once the queen emerges only she is allowed to feed on it beekeepers like zurichung maximize royal jelly production by removing the queen he will place it in a separate part of the Box away from the hive the bees will work quickly to feed all the potential Queen larvae it takes workers 72 hours to fill the larva cells with jelly zurichung also creates multiple artificial cells which he fills with fresh larvae taken from other hives foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] too much force can destroy larvae all future Queens needs to keep them alive in the cells so he can get as much jelly as possible from the workers foreign [Music] with 64 cells in each strip will fill thousands of Queen cells throughout the Harvest [Music] in exactly 72 hours checks on his boxes of hives he removes the cells from the hives and cuts off the beeswax seal on top of each cell he needs to remove each lava from inside the jelly filled cell because of the tiny size of the larvae this task also must be done by hand s there are many consumers who also purchase the larvae in fact the demand for Queen larvae is just as high as royal jelly yeah [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] has to empty at least 2 000 Queen cells yeah [Music] royal jelly sourced from rapeseed flowers here in Hubei can sell for over 250 dollars for a single kilogram abroad foreign the reason behind this price discrepancy is their nutrients honey is mostly made up of sugar while royal jelly also contains proteins and other minerals most still unknown being richer in nutrients than honey has linked royal jelly to a variety of health benefit claims like being an aphrodisiac or a key to long life but most have yet to be confirmed by scientific evidence these beliefs come from seeing what happens to the bees that consume royal jelly queen bees grow one and a half times larger than other bees they have a lifespan of seven years while a worker bee lives just six months and they can lay up to 3 000 eggs in a single day while workers are infertile but that may not be linked to the lack of royal jelly at all a study has shown that a worker's diet of honey and pollen contains natural chemicals that make them infertile foreign [Music] royal jelly can be found in beehives all over the world but it's China where 90 of the world's production comes from production took off in the 1980s when Chinese beekeepers started using a variety of high yielding bee called apis mellifera lagustica spinola this special breed of royal jelly yielding honeybees helped ramp up production almost 2 000 over the past 40 years zorachung has been using these bees since he started beekeeping over 30 years ago foreign [Music] regardless of the species bees are under threat and because of the great number of larvae killed or eaten forcing bees to produce royal jelly has come under scrutiny while lab-grown royal jelly exists it does not have the same benefits as the natural product and is even killed queen bees that fed on it the changing climate and the use of pesticides on crops are also causing bees numbers in China to diminish rapidly [Music] pesticide use has become so rampant in parts of China that some Farmers have begun to pollinate by hands foreign [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Insider Business

Views: 539,496

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, bilona ghee, panela, single-origin coffee, wagyu

Id: AkOkPs555kQ

Length: 124min 1sec (7441 seconds)

Published: Tue May 16 2023