A tin inscription, apparently a kitchen menu of the Achaemenid monarchy, revealed cooks used about 1 kilogram of saffron each day for their royal dishes, Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency reported.

The inscription was originally discovered on a court portico in one of Achaemenid kings’ palaces and was documented by a Greek military author in a book entitled “Strategy”.

Now an Iranian scholar, Dr. Mohammad Hussein Abrishami, has deciphered the tablet and concluded that it served as menu and is the oldest document on Achaemenids’ diets.

The inscription unveiled that cooks used to prepare meals for up to 50,000 persons each day, thus needing 1 kg of saffron to spice up their delicacies.