Heirloom Kishmish Raisins

Hands down the biggest raisins I’ve had the pleasure to nibble. Sourced by our friends at Ziba Foods from the Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan, heirloom Shungul Khani grapes are big and green and long and sweet. Kishmish (the word for "raisin" in Dari, the most commonly spoken language in Afghanistan) are all those things with a flavor that’s even more intense thanks to being concentrated into raisin form.

To make the raisins, each fall the fresh grapes are hung to dry in traditional clay huts—called balkhanas—designed with airflow for effective traditional drying techniques. The sun-drying typically takes five to seven days (rather than a matter of mere hours in a machine). The natural sun drying yields a more flavorful raisin. 

They’re a tasty and pretty addition to cheese boards, salad, rice dishes, or your morning oatmeal. They're also very easy to snack on when you need something sweet. And they are definitely sweet without being cloying.

If you have kids, these go over like gangbusters. Leave out the part about them being healthy.