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    Your lips drop sweetness like
    honeycomb, my bride, syrup and milk are under your tongue, and your
    dress had the scent of Lebanon. Your cheeks are an orchard of
    pomegranates, an orchard full of rare fruits, spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon.[40]

    — Song of Solomon

     
    Human cultivation and use of saffron spans more than 3,500 years and extends across cultures, continents, and civilizations. Saffron, a spice derived from the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), has through history remained among the world's most costly substances. With its special taste, hay-like fragrance, and slight metallic notes, the apocarotenoid-rich saffron has been used as a seasoning,fragrance, dye and medicine.
     

    In ancient Persia, saffron (Crocus sativus 'Hausknechtii') was cultivated at Derbena and Isfahan in the 10th century BC. There, Persian saffron threads have been found interwoven into ancient Persian royal carpets and funeral shrouds. Saffron was used by ancient Persian worshippers as a ritual offering to their deities, and as a brilliant yellow dye, perfume, and a medicine. Thus, saffron threads would be scattered across beds and mixed into hot teas as a curative for bouts of melancholy. Indeed, Persian saffron threads, used to spice foods and teas, were widely suspected by foreigners of being a drugging agent and an aphrodisiac.


    Currently with harvesting more than 300 tons annually, Iran accounts for 90-93% of world production of Saffron. This spice is perfectly fitted with the dry climate and soil composition. In addition, the eminent crop protection and harvesting processes, makes the Iranian saffron, the best and costliest exquisite condiment in the world. Having tens of centuries of fame and name in  glowing of this ancient fragrance of Persia, the Iranian saffron has been sitting heads and shoulders above all the producing countries around the world. This is a gift from holy mother of earth which was conferred to that specific soil. Logically, the high cost of saffron is due to the difficulty of manually extracting large numbers of minute stigmas, which are the only part of the flower with the desired aroma and flavour. This process needs precision, dedication and professionalism in the work. To gain 1 pound (450g) of dried saffron, almost 50,000 flowers, from a field of 7000 sqm should be harvested.

     

    Saffron blooming is simultaneous and transient. So in order to harvest the crop, thousands of workers have to kneel down on the earth, day and night for two weeks. Once harvested, the stigmas must be dried quickly, before decomposition or mould ruins the batch’s premium quality. The traditional method of drying involves spreading the fresh stigmas over plates of fine mesh, which are then dried over hot coals or wood or in oven-heated rooms where temperatures reach 30–35 °C (86–95 °F) for 10–12 hours. Afterwards the dried spice is preferably sealed in airtight glass containers and ready to export.

     

    Sohrabifard Trade (Einzelunternehmen) by its exclusive brand of "Gepard" offers different varieties of authentic and premium quality Persian saffron including Sargol (Gepard Legend of Persia) and Negin (Gepard Monarch of Persia) saffron. Gepard works with an absolute believe to share the " passion for a premium saffron" with its clients. The principal of Gepard is "not to be ordinary and available everywhere" but to be "premium quality and unique" to work with like minded people who aim to use just "specialty and premium saffron". We believe the only sustainable way to grow is to keep the "quality and innovation" with working "together with our clients" and to bring a "unique experience" to end consumer of our saffron and saffron based products.


    The connection of Gepard to the "charm land of Persia" is not a coincidence or a show off ! It is inspired by saffron culture of "Persian Cusine " and Persian Cheetah which are both unique in a class of their own in the world. The Asiatic cheetah also known as Iranian or Persian cheetah , is a Critically Endangered cheetah subspecies surviving today only in protected areas in the eastern-central regions of Iran where also the best Iranian saffron is grown.   

     

    This is while our management and masters are either Iranian experts or Austrian trained by Iranian professionals to serve our clients with best of Iranian specially saffron.

     

    Gepard thank you for being with us in our passionate specialty saffron journey. 

    Mamnoon - Vielen herzlichen Dank!