I. IRAN

Saghar Setareh · Pomegranates & Artichokes

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While most children feast on candies and other sweets as snacks, in Iran, what drives kids crazy with an almost manic delight is the sourest treat you can find. Think very tart fruit leathers made mostly of plums, but also barberries, pomegranates or tamarind. Or dried and salted sour cherries, crisp and sour greengage plums in spring (sometimes sprinkled with salt), qareh qurut or black kashk, a by-product of yoghurt (usually a hard paste with the most exquisitely sour flavour you can imagine). At the very north of Tehran, where the capital merges into the foothills of Mount Damavand, there are country-style restaurants and many snack stalls selling all these treats and more, some going the extra mile in feeding this hysterical appreciation for sourness by actually adding acid citric and food colourings, giving a slightly psychedelic look to the bright fuchsia mounds of prunes and many assorted folded fruit leathers. In Iran we’re trained to love sourness, and a sour condiment is almo