The Priceless Spice

To put it simply, saffron is a spice. Of course, this definition also needs to be followed by several descriptions and explanations. One of them is that saffron is the costliest spice on the planet, by weight.

This spice is derived from the lavender-coloured flower of flowering plant crocus sativus, which is commonly known as saffron crocus. Saffron is produced from parts of the plant's flowers. The dried stigmas along with the styles of the flowers of saffron crocus are called saffron. It should be noted that after their extraction, the stigmas must be dried quickly, or decomposition and mould may set in. Saffron can be brought in strands or stigmas and also in powdered form.

Distinctive Features

About a lakh of flowers of saffron crocus plant are needed to produce 1 kg of saffron. Output of saffron in India is just half kg per hectare. The difficulty and labour-intensiveness involved in manually extracting large numbers of minute stigmas from the flowers of saffron crocus also attributes to the high cost of saffron in the market. Yes, even today saffron is produced in the way it was done in the ancient period; even today machines have no answer to removing stigmas from the flowers of saffron crocus.

Saffron costs about Rs. 2 lakh per kg. But that is nothing to worry about, for saffron is generally needed in small dosages across the food service industry. A pound of saffron may contain 70,000 to 200,000 strands whereas only a handful of strands of saffron are needed for a given dish where saffron's application is desirable.

One of the distinctive features of saffron is its ethereal aroma, which is similar to that of metallic honey with hay like notes. Picrocrocin and safranal are the chemical compounds in saffron which endow the spice with its distinct fragrance.

Saffron has a bitter sweet taste and comes in crimson or golden yellow colour. Crimson saffron threads with orange tips are considered to be of premium quality. Good quality saffron should also have slight moistness and should exhibit elasticity.

History and Legends