Do you know what saffron is?

mehdizeus

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Hello all ,
i am new to this thread,
i just have a simple question. do you know guys know what saffron is? do you really use it often? if any of you guys have bought it, would you please share your experience?
 
I've used saffron a few times, but its very expensive so I haven't bought any for a long time. Saffron is the dried stigmas of the crocus sativus (its a specific autumn-flowering variety, rather than the more familiar spring-flowering crocuses that you're used to seeing in gardens and parks) and its so expensive because each crocus only produces 3 stigmas, and they need to be carefully harvested by hand.

The UK actually used to grow a lot of saffron - in the Middle Ages the UK was reportedly the world's largest saffron producer. These are crocus bulbs:
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They look very similar to normal spring-flowering crocus bulbs - so its important to get them from a reliable supplier! We planted 60 bulbs on the 21st of September.....they're starting to come through but as this is the first time I've tried to grow them I don't know if we'll get a harvest this year.
 
:ninja:Be careful with it though. Too much of it can make whatever you're using it in taste like medicine!! :thumbsdown::yuck::stop:
 
I've used saffron a few times, but its very expensive so I haven't bought any for a long time. Saffron is the dried stigmas of the crocus sativus (its a specific autumn-flowering variety, rather than the more familiar spring-flowering crocuses that you're used to seeing in gardens and parks) and its so expensive because each crocus only produces 3 stigmas, and they need to be carefully harvested by hand.

The UK actually used to grow a lot of saffron - in the Middle Ages the UK was reportedly the world's largest saffron producer. These are crocus bulbs:
View attachment 34638

They look very similar to normal spring-flowering crocus bulbs - so its important to get them from a reliable supplier! We planted 60 bulbs on the 21st of September.....they're starting to come through but as this is the first time I've tried to grow them I don't know if we'll get a harvest this year.

I write what I found:
For the entire duration of the Middle Ages, Italy established itself in Europe and in the rest of the world as one of the major producers and consumers of the spice.

I think that someone gives a good explanation to us :happy:
 
things change over time. search "world production of saffron"
"Saffron production in the world. Iran is the world's largest producer of saffron and due to the climate variability; many agricultural and horticultural crops such as saffron have the highest degree of quality. The annual production of saffron is around 250 tons in the world of which about 230 tons belong to Iran."

it is also widely "faked" - artificially colored strands of "something" from other plants - often safflower.

I have several recipes that use it - it is a very delicate flavor/aroma and easily overpowered. it's not something one just "tosses in" on a whim.
 
As it happened I used saffron in a shellfish stew with crab 'bonbons', the night before last. I use saffron a lot in many different dishes.

34700
 
Saffron update.......

I didn't expect to get a saffron harvest this year as we only planted the bulbs in September, but we did get ONE flower!
View attachment 35598View attachment 35599

Hopefully next year we'll have a proper crop :okay:

How much did you plant? I did grow it once but soon worked out that to get enough for a decent crop you need one hell of a lot of bulbs. My meagre harvest was not enough to cook anything with!
 
How much did you plant? I did grow it once but soon worked out that to get enough for a decent crop you need one hell of a lot of bulbs. My meagre harvest was not enough to cook anything with!
We planted 60 bulbs - that should hopefully give us enough for a couple of meals per year. I don't use it in cooking that often, but we like growing unusual things and they're pretty flowers too so we decided to give it a go :D
 
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