Cooking. We all do it differently. My mom was a great cook when I was growing up. Everyone in the family thought so. And I’ll tell you this. No one turned their noses up to anything. But the thing was, Mom didn’t use spices. I am pretty sure salt and pepper were the extent of her seasoning practices.
She didn’t like them. And so we never tasted them.
It kind of stuck with me. While I am open to trying anything, most of the time, I prefer my dishes sans the herbs and spices. Sage is the bane of all civilization, right next to the vegetable kale, according to Polly.
Anyway, I can say with certainty that I never had saffron when I was a kid. In fact, I probably didn’t taste it until I was in my thirties or so.
But I’ve always been interested in the stuff. First, the color. That distinctly red hue. It matches the color of blood you need to purchase any amount of saffron.
Yet. Saffron is a bit of a mystery. At least its origins are shrouded in mystery. Some say the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) plant hails from Iran, while others say it is from Greece.
And, when picked, harvested from the flowers and dried, a pound of saffron can cost up to $5,000. Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world. But why?
The answer is “the process.” All the other spices play the game easily.
Take for instance, a spice like rosemary. That stuff can be harvested and dried at home with a piece of parchment paper and an oven. And how about red pepper flakes? Just throw those red peppers in a food processor.
But saffron is different in that its harvested amounts are teensy-weensy. It is estimated that it takes up to 170,000 individual flowers to yield just 1 pound of saffron. That takes a whole lot of manpower to harvest it correctly.
And saffron is specific. It is a girl spice, you see. Saffron is dehydrated or dry stigma. And for those who don’t know, the stigma is the female part of the flower. You have to separate the itsy-bitsy stigma and dry that little tiny part.
About 90% of saffron is harvested in Iran. But it comes from other places, too. And, in the countries where saffron is produced, it provides a source of income for farmers, from Iran to Afghanistan to Morocco.
Another boon. It has to be harvested at dawn because overexposure from the sun degrades the quality of the flower. On top of that, saffron flowers (which need to be handpicked) only bloom one week per year. That’s it. And those flowers typically produce just three usable stigma threads per flower.
After the flowers are harvested, the labor-intensive work of removing the stigma begins. It can take laborers up to 40 hours of handpicking stamens to produce 1 pound of saffron.
Pound for pound, saffron is literally more expensive than gold.
I don’t know how often or how widely it is used.
I also don’t know what the world’s most popular spice is, because they vary so much from country to country, and their cuisines.
All I know is that Morton salt is about $1.59 for a pound. Bring it on, Mort.
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“Cooking with spices is like painting with colors; they add vibrancy and life to your dishes.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
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“The art of cuisine is incomplete without the touch of spices, each one a note in the symphony of flavor.” – James Beard
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“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” – Michel de Montaigne
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Spice it up, baby. Or not.
