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| | Saffron
is a spice known throughout the world, and history, for its unique flavor, color
and aroma. It is the world's most precious spice, and with very good reason. Each
Saffron filament is one red stigma from the flower of the Crocus Sativa plant,
and there are only 3 stigmas per flower. These flowers must first be hand
picked, as a machine would badly damage the stigmas, and then the extremely delicate
stigmas must be carefully pinched off by hand, taking care not to break them.
You would need to repeat this process for over 75,500 Crocus Sativa flowers to
get only 1 pound of saffron. So even though the properties of this exotic
spice certainly help to make saffron a precious commodity, it is the painstaking
and labor-intensive gathering process that makes this spice so rare and valuable.
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| | Depending on where your
saffron was grown and harvested, it could be perfectly normal to have the yellow
style still attached or it could be the first sign that your saffron isn't quite
up to snuff. Iran - Saffron from Iran, the largest producer of saffron in
the world, is very thin and small in size and there are two basic varieties.
One contains only the red stigma with absolutely no yellow style; whereas the
other comes with the full style attached to the stigma and tied in a bunch of
several hundred. |
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This Table shows only a selection of the most important countries of origin
and should not be thought of as exhaustive. Europe Spain, Greece, Italy,
France, Russia, Portugal Africa North Africa Asia Iran, India, Pakistan,
China, Japan America USA (Pennsylvania) Australia |
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Unfortunately, there is nothing to stop saffron producers from making their
saffron with only half true stigmas and the other half made up of the yellow styles.
There's also nothing to prevent them from dying these yellow styles red to give
the appearance of quality saffron. Now if you come across saffron that seems
too good to be true - it's all red and very inexpensive - you're probably dealing
with inferior saffron. Remember to look for the ISO certification, which all
quality saffron will have. But if you bring it home and you're still not so sure,
here's a quick test. When you first put quality saffron in liquid, the liquid
will turn a slightly pale yellow, and over time will turn the liquid a stronger
and more vibrant color. If your saffron immediately turns the water a strong
yellow, this is a sign your saffron was artificially colored. What you are actually
seeing is the dye washing off your saffron. |
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| | Saffron is produced
from the dried, yellowish orange 2.5 - 4 cm long stigmas of the purple-flowered
saffron crocus. The stigmas are in the form of tubes which open out at the top
into a funnel shape. It is the most valuable, most expensive spice in the world. Harvesting
saffron is very labor-intensive: each blossom has three stigmas, which are picked
by hand in the morning, before the heat of the day, and then dried for 15 - 30
minutes. The blossoms are thrown away. The term spice is used to refer to
plant parts which serve to improve the odor and flavor of foods. They contain
essential oils and other ingredients which have a strong seasoning action. Spices
are processed, cleaned, graded and carefully packaged for overseas dispatch in
the countries where they are cultivated. They are dried to preserve them for transport
and storage. In consumer countries, they are delivered to spice mills, where they
are cleaned and graded again, ready for sale in ungrounded or ground form. Saffron
has an aromatic, hot and slightly bitter taste. Saffron contains a water-soluble
coloring matter known as croc in, which provides a golden-colored dye which is
effective even at a dilution of 1:100,000. 1 kg of saffron represents 100,000
to 200,000 blossoms, the stigmas of which have to be removed by hand, which explain
the high price and the frequent cases of adulteration with parts of other plants
and other organic or inorganic substances. |
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| | Saffron is very light-sensitive
and hygroscopic and must therefore be well sealed and protected from light during
transport. The product is therefore packaged in cans which are in turn packaged
in boxes. Sometimes saffron is packaged in corrugated board cartons lined with
aluminum. |
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