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| Saffron
Saffron is the stigma of the fall flowering crocus. Peek inside most any flower, and you will see three threadlike filaments. These are stigma - but only in the saffron crocus are these stigma worth thousands of dollars per pound. Saffron is so valuable because it is a very labor intensive crop, and only 5-7 pounds of saffron can be produced from each acre of land. This makes saffron the most expensive spice by weight - it always has been - but by use saffron isn't that expensive, because a little goes a long way. A single gram of saffron easily translates into golden color and fragrant flavor in 10 recipes of saffron rice for four, several batches of bread, or a couple of big pots of paella. At Penzeys, we sell two different grades of Saffron: |
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Spanish Coupé Saffron is the top grade of the Spanish Saffron crop.
Extra hand labor is used to remove every bit of the yellow saffron style
material, leaving 100% beautiful pure red saffron threads -hence the name:
coupé means "to cut", as in cutting off all the yellow bits. Spanish Coupé
Saffron is a truly excellent crop, especially nice for the traditional
Spanish dishes. Spanish Superior Saffron is the most widely available saffron and is a very good crop. Spanish Superior Saffron has a bit of the yellow style material left attached to some of the saffron stigmas (see photo), so it is not quite as strong as Spanish Coupé. |
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Saffron contains 450-500 saffron stigmas to the gram. The stigma are also called threads, strings, pieces or strands. 1 gram equals 2 tsp. whole, 1 teaspoon crumbled or ½ teaspoon powdered. Don't buy pre-powdered saffron because it loses flavor quickly and is usually cut with turmeric or something else. |
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