Saffron has been used as a seasoning, fragrance, dye, and medicine for more than 3,000 years.The world's most expensive spice by weight,saffron consists of stigmas plucked from the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). The resulting dried "threads" are distinguished by their bitter taste, hay-like fragrance, and slight metallic notes. Saffron is native to Southwest Asia, but was first cultivated in Greece. Iran is the world's largest producer of saffron, accounting for over half the total harvest.
In both antiquity and modern times, most saffron was and is used in the preparation of food and drink: cultures spread across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas value the red threads for use in such items as baked foods, curries, and liquor. Medicinally, saffron was used in ancient times to treat a wide range of ailments, including stomach upsets, bubonic plague, and smallpox; clinical trials have shown saffron's potential as an anticancer and anti-aging agent. Saffron has been used to colour textiles and other items, many of which carry a religious or hierarchical significance.
Saffron cultivation has long centred on a broad belt of Eurasia bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the southwest to Kashmir and China in the northeast. The major saffron producers of antiquity—Iran, Spain, India, and Greece,continue to dominate the world trade. The cultivation of saffron in the Americas was begun by members of the Schwenkfelder Church in Pennsylvania. In recent decades cultivation has spread to New Zealand, Tasmania, and California.
* 1 Modern trade
* 2 Culinary use
* 3 Medicinal use
* 4 Colouring and perfumery
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 Citations
* 8 References
* 9 External links
World saffron cultivation patterns:
Major producing regions
Major producing nations
Minor producing regions
Minor producing nations
Major trading centres (current)
Major trading centres (historical)
Virtually all saffron is produced in a wide geographical belt extending from the Mediterranean in the west to Kashmir in the east. All continents outside this zone—except Antarctica—produce smaller amounts. Annual worldwide production amounts to some 300 tonnes, including whole threads and powder.This includes 50 tonnes of annual production of top-grade "coupe" saffron in 1991.Iran, Spain, India, Greece, Azerbaijan, Morocco, and Italy (in decreasing order of production) dominate the world saffron harvest, with Iran and Spain alone producing 80% of the world crop.
Despite numerous cultivation efforts in such countries as Austria, England, Germany, and Switzerland, only select locales continue the harvest in Northern and Central Europe. Among these is the small Swiss village of Mund, in the Valais canton, whose annual saffron output comes to several kilograms. Micro-scale cultivation also occurs in Tasmania,China, Egypt, France, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Turkey (especially Safranbolu), California, and Central Africa.In both antiquity and modern times, most saffron was and is used in the preparation of food and drink: cultures spread across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas value the red threads for use in such items as baked foods, curries, and liquor. Medicinally, saffron was used in ancient times to treat a wide range of ailments, including stomach upsets, bubonic plague, and smallpox; clinical trials have shown saffron's potential as an anticancer and anti-aging agent. Saffron has been used to colour textiles and other items, many of which carry a religious or hierarchical significance.
Saffron cultivation has long centred on a broad belt of Eurasia bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the southwest to Kashmir and China in the northeast. The major saffron producers of antiquity—Iran, Spain, India, and Greece,continue to dominate the world trade. The cultivation of saffron in the Americas was begun by members of the Schwenkfelder Church in Pennsylvania. In recent decades cultivation has spread to New Zealand, Tasmania, and California.
* 1 Modern trade
* 2 Culinary use
* 3 Medicinal use
* 4 Colouring and perfumery
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 Citations
* 8 References
* 9 External links
World saffron cultivation patterns:
Major producing regions
Major producing nations
Minor producing regions
Minor producing nations
Major trading centres (current)
Major trading centres (historical)
Virtually all saffron is produced in a wide geographical belt extending from the Mediterranean in the west to Kashmir in the east. All continents outside this zone—except Antarctica—produce smaller amounts. Annual worldwide production amounts to some 300 tonnes, including whole threads and powder.This includes 50 tonnes of annual production of top-grade "coupe" saffron in 1991.Iran, Spain, India, Greece, Azerbaijan, Morocco, and Italy (in decreasing order of production) dominate the world saffron harvest, with Iran and Spain alone producing 80% of the world crop.
The high cost of saffron is due to the difficulty of manually extracting large numbers of minute stigmas; the only part of the crocus with the desired properties of aroma and flavour. In addition, a large number of flowers need to be processed in order to yield marketable amounts of saffron. A pound of dry saffron (0.45 kg) requires the harvesting of some 50,000 flowers, the equivalent of a football pitch's area of cultivation. By another estimate some 75,000 flowers are needed to produce one pound of dry saffron.This too depends on the average size of each saffron cultivar's stigmas. Another complication arises in the flowers' simultaneous and transient blooming. Since so many crocus flowers are needed to produce just one kilogram of dry saffron, about forty hours of intense labour, harvesting is often a frenetic affair. In Kashmir, for example, the thousands of growers must work continuously in relays over the span of one or two weeks throughout both day and night.Saffron threads (red-coloured stigmas) mixed with styles (yellow) from Iran.
Once extracted, the stigmas must be dried quickly, lest decomposition or mold ruin the batch's marketability. The traditional method of drying involves spreading the fresh stigmas over screens of fine mesh, which are then baked over hot coals or wood or in oven-heated rooms with temperatures reaching 30–35 °C (86–95 °F) for 10–12 hours. Afterwards, the dried spice is preferably sealed in airtight glass containers.Bulk quantities of relatively lower-grade saffron can reach upwards of US$500/pound, while retail costs for small amounts may exceed 10 times that rate. In Western countries the average retail price is approximately $1,000 per pound, however.The high price is somewhat offset by the small quantities needed: a few grams at most in medicinal use and a few strands, at most, in culinary applications; there are between 70,000 and 200,000 strands in a pound.Experienced saffron buyers often have rules of thumb when deliberating on their purchases. They may look for threads exhibiting a vivid crimson colouring, slight moistness, and elasticity.
Meanwhile, they reject threads displaying telltale dull brick red colouring (indicative of age) and broken-off debris collected at the container's bottom (indicative of age-related brittle dryness). Such aged samples are most likely encountered around the main June harvest season, when retailers attempt to clear out the previous season's old inventory and make room for the new season’s crop. Indeed, experienced buyers recommend that only the current season's threads should be used at all. Thus, reputable saffron wholesalers and retailers will indicate the year of harvest or the two years that bracket the harvest date; a late 2002 harvest would be shown as "2002/2003".
Saffron is used extensively in European, North African, and Asian cuisines. Its aroma is described by experts as resembling that of honey, with grassy, hay-like, and metallic notes. Saffron's taste is like that of hay, but with hints of bitter. Saffron also contributes a luminous yellow-orange colouring to items it is soaked with. For these traits saffron is used in baked goods, cheeses, confectionaries, curries, liquors, meat dishes, and soups. Saffron is used in India, Iran, Spain, and other countries as a condiment for rice. Saffron rice is used in many cuisines. It is used in many famous dishes such as paella valenciana, which is a spicy rice-meat preparation, and the zarzuela fish stews.It is also used in fabada asturiana. Saffron is essential in making the French bouillabaisse, which is a spicy fish stew from Marseilles, the Italian risotto alla milanese, and the Swedish and Cornish varieties of saffron bun.Experienced saffron users often crumble and pre-soak threads for several minutes prior to adding them to their dishes. For example, they may toss threads into water or sherry and leave them to soak for approximately ten minutes. This process extracts the threads' colour and flavour into the liquid phase; powdered saffron does not require this step.Afterward, the soaking solution is added to the hot and cooking dish. This allows even distribution of saffron's colour and flavour throughout a dish, and is important when preparing baked goods or thick sauces.
