Saffron

What it is¶

Saffron is the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus, an autumn-flowering crocus with lilac-purple petals. Each flower has three long red stigmas joined to a pale style. These are picked out by hand, usually on the day the flower opens, and dried gently over heat.

Because every thread is harvested by hand and each flower gives only three, it takes roughly 150,000 flowers or more to make a kilogram of dried saffron, and a great deal of labour. That is why it is the most expensive spice by weight. In practice it is used in such tiny amounts, a pinch of 0.1–0.2 g for a dish, that it is less extravagant than it sounds.

The cultivated saffron crocus is a sterile triploid. It sets no seed and exists only because people have propagated it from corms for thousands of years.

Origins and history¶

Saffron's origins lie in the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia, and genetic studies point to Crocus cartwrightianus, a wild Greek species, as its ancestor. Bronze Age frescoes at Akrotiri on Santorini, from around the seventeenth century BCE, show women gathering crocus flowers, and saffron was prized across the ancient Near East as a dye, perfume, medicine and seasoning.

Persia became a great centre of cultivation, and remains so: Iran produces the great majority of the world's saffron today. Arab cultivators brought it to Spain, where La Mancha saffron became famous. In England it was grown around Saffron Walden in Essex from the fourteenth or fifteenth century until the eighteenth, and the town took its name from the crop. Cornwall's saffron cake and buns are a survival of that era.

Its value made saffron a target for fraud throughout history. In fifteenth-century Nuremberg, laws against adulterating saffron were enforced with extreme punishments, and sellers of fake saffron are recorded as having been executed. See spice-adulteration.

Flavour and aroma¶

Saffron's aroma is mostly safranal, which forms during drying: honeyed, hay-like and floral, with a slightly metallic, iodine note. The bitterness comes from picrocrocin, and the golden colour from crocin, which, unusually, is water-soluble rather than fat-soluble. Used well, saffron tastes luxurious and rounded; used to excess, it becomes bitter and medicinal.

In the kitchen¶

• Spain. Paella valenciana and many rice dishes, and fish stews such as zarzuela.
• Italy. Risotto alla milanese, traditionally served with osso buco.
• France. Bouillabaisse, and rouille served alongside it. See french-cuisine.
• Iran. Used generously: in chelow and tahdig rice, kebabs (joojeh kabab), stews and sholeh zard rice pudding. See persian-cuisine.
• India. Biryani, pulao, kheer, kulfi and shrikhand; Kashmiri saffron is highly prized. See indian-cuisine.
• Morocco. Tagines and harira soup. See north-african-cuisine.
• Britain and Scandinavia. Cornish saffron buns and cake; Swedish lussekatter buns, baked for St Lucia's Day on 13 December. See british-cuisine.

Buying and storing¶

Keep saffron in an airtight container away from light and heat, which degrade crocin and safranal. Threads keep well for two to three years; powder fades faster and is easier to adulterate. Buy threads, not powder, from a reputable supplier.

Quality is graded under the international standard ISO 3632, which measures colouring strength, bitterness and aroma. The best threads are uniformly deep red, with little or no pale yellow style attached. Persian grades such as sargol and negin are trimmed of all style; pushal and bunch include some.

Substitutes¶

There is no real substitute for saffron's flavour. For colour, a pinch of turmeric or annatto, or a little safflower, will turn rice yellow, but the dish will taste different. Omitting saffron is often better than faking it in dishes where it is the point, such as risotto alla milanese.

Pairs well with¶

Rice, fish and shellfish, chicken, cardamom, cinnamon, rosewater, vanilla, almonds, pistachios, honey, cream, milk, tomatoes, garlic, fennel, orange.

Growing your own¶

Saffron crocus is easier to grow than its price suggests, though yields are small. Plant corms in late summer (August or early September), 10–15 cm deep and about 10 cm apart, in a sunny, very well-drained spot or a deep pot of gritty compost. Waterlogging rots them. Flowers appear in October and November, often before the leaves.

Pick the flowers in the morning as they open, pull out the three red stigmas, and dry them on paper in a warm, dry place for a day or two before storing. A few dozen corms will give enough for a dish or two a year; the corms multiply, so the harvest grows over time. Lift and divide crowded clumps every few years. See growing-your-own-spices.

Health and safety¶

Culinary amounts are safe, but saffron is toxic in large doses: several grams, many times a culinary pinch, can cause serious poisoning, and pregnant women are advised to avoid medicinal doses. Do not confuse the saffron crocus with autumn crocus or meadow saffron, Colchicum autumnale, which also flowers in autumn and is highly poisonous in all its parts. See poisonous-lookalikes.

See also¶

• most expensive spices
• turmeric
• annatto
• spice adulteration
• persian cuisine
• growing your own spices