Why Saffron is the Most Expensive Spice & What does it Taste?
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Crocus sativus flower from which Saffron is obtained
photo credit: Mahdi Dastmard @mahdigp @unsplash
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@healthbiztips by Arlene Gentallan - healthblog
A gram of saffron can cost roughly more than $6 but why is it so ridiculously high-priced? What many people don't know is the painstaking process involved in the making of this spice.
Saffron can only be harvested for one to three weeks each year since the violet flower Crocus sativus from which saffron is obtained blooms only during autumn. Not only that, the flowers have to be carefully handpicked and each of it's three stigma meticulous plucked and extracted by hand as well.
Each Crocus sativus flower contains only 3 redish stigma or stamen which are the saffron itself. Considering that each of these have to plucked out by hands, it is indeed a hard labor. A cultivator has to go through about 150 flowers to come by with a single gram of saffron. Meanwhile, an ounce of saffron will require roughly 75,000 flowers.
Did you know that this Crocus flower is sterile so they can not propagate by pollination and instead depends on human intervention to reproduce? So, it's bulb-like corms have to be unearthed manually, divided, and replanted in order to perpetuate their species.
Turning to it's taste. Powdered saffron looks quite like paprika but it definitely isn't on the spicy spectrum. In fact, this spice has a sweet hay-like and distinct taste with a signature fragrant aroma.
Although saffron has a unique taste, it's quite hard to define it in words. In addition, people have varying perception of it's taste. Despite this, it is undeniable that the infusion of this spice takes foods and drinks into a whole new level.
Many will argue that there is no replacement spice for the extraordinary taste of saffron. In fact, the absence of saffron can break the palatability of certain traditional dishes like Spanish paella.
The best quality saffrons are red in color, without a yellowish tint. Intact saffron stigma is preferred than powdered form as this ensure there is no filler like tumeric and paprika that have been added.
Saffron is widely used, especially in the Middle East Asia and India to color and season dishes, beverages, desserts, and is treasured for it's medicinal property.
Saffron is an irreplaceable spice with thousands of years of culinary traditions across the globe, but requires extensive labor to cultivate.
