buy real saffron

The flower is called Crocus Sativus, which is a member of the iris herb family. The stigmas of these Crocus flowers are the magical spice that is named saffron. There are many different kinds of Crocus flowers in the world; the most different appearances are their colors. To illustrate, consider that some of these Crocus flowers have white- and yellow-colored petals and are called the wilding saffron, the stigmas of these flowers are just like saffron, but they have not pleasant aroma, this kind of coloring, and their taste is different. In certain circumstances, these stigmas are utilized instead of genuine saffron.

If you want to distinguish the real saffron remember that it is just the stigmas of the Crocus Sativus, and its petals are lilac. The stigmas of these flowers have a fragrant aroma, red color, and coffee-like bitter taste.

According to the properties of these threads, they are used as a spice to color and flavor many international dishes. In addition, Due to its great color, it has been used as a natural dye in textile and cosmetic industries. Furthermore, because of its components, it has lots of health benefits and it is used as a treatment for many diseases. 

Due to these points, we can say that Saffron is a unique spice, effective treatment, and raw material in different industries.

History of saffron

Saffron is as old as the time, no one knows who find or plant this herb for the first time. Ancient did not mention when and where they find or plant this magical herb.  There are many stories about cultivating and using saffron all around the world.

The ancient storytellers said that the first saffron land was found in Alvand’s and Zagros’s foothills. 

Although there is no proof that who found this spice and when it was found, its first users were Iranian. In the past, all spices were expensive and worthy. Due to the lack of cooling system like refrigerator, ingredients like spices should add to different foods to make them eatable. Hence, this spice is traded in the whole world.

The ancient herbal medicine used this spice as a great treatment for many diseases. Nowadays it is used in herbal medicine and science as a great herb with lots of health benefits. Some pharmaceutical companies use it to produce pills and drugs.

According to the saffron color and aroma in has been used as dye and perfume in royal families. Today many cosmetic industries use it as one of the main raw material in their products.

Saffron has a long history, no one knows where and when this history started, but it is still continuing.

Production of saffron

The production of saffron is a hard and manual process. This production has some steps, from harvesting to dry stigmas, which are ready to use. These production steps start after plant and grow the flowers.

Step 1: Harvesting

Harvesting saffron needs lots of attention. The flowers should pick by hand. The Crocus flowers are about 6 inches high that means picking them is hard.

Step 2: Plucking the stigmas

As mentioned above, each Crocus flower has 3 stigmas. These stigmas should pluck from the flowers without breaking or cut. This step could do by hand or tweezers.

Step 3: Drying

The stigmas should dry. Some producers dry them in drying machines, while other dry them under the sunlight. The second method is more recommended.

Taste and aroma of saffron

Experts try to explain the saffron properties. If you have not been testing this spice yet, it would be so hard to explain the features for you.

This golden spice tastes like a well-prepared espresso, but not totally as bitter as it. It could add fragrance, color and effective flavor to any dishes.

The saffron taste is kind of earthy and floral. Its taste does not have much effect on the taste of food ingredients but it would add soft and sweetness to the whole dish.

The fantastic aroma of the magical spice could be added to any dish or dessert.

Many chefs around the world add it to their recipes. Some professional chefs believe that this spice could be their secret additive to make their recipes personal and unique.

Many people do not eat sea dishes because of the unpleasant smell; the strong and fragrant aroma of this sunshine spice could change their mind and taste experiences. One of the most famous seafood is called Bailobae soup; it is a beloved French soup that shrimp and fish are its main ingredients. Without the magical saffron aroma, it would not have the enjoyable taste.

Culinary uses of saffron

Saffron has lots of use in the world, but the most common one is its culinary use. According to its fragrant aroma, great color, and unique taste, it could be an awesome spice. Most spices use in different recipes to change the unpleasant smell of them, this spice not only could give the food its wonderful aroma, but also change the color of the food to bright yellow.

You can see the effect of this spice in the foods and beverages. The famous yellow color of Italian Risotto, the pleasant fragrance of Spanish rice, and the great taste of French seafood are all due to the glories characteristics of this spice.

Additionally, adding this aromatic spice to any beverage could change everything about that. People drink it as tea, syrup and a cocktail.

If you have not using it yet, start now. Then you would not stop using it. 

Health benefits of saffron

Saffron is not only a spice, but also it is an effective medication for most of the diseases. Herbal experts prescribe this spice as a drug from the past to today. According to its components, scientists and doctors do lots of experiments on it. Finally, they accept it as an effective medication for many diseases.

The saffron health benefits are uncountable; we gathered some of these benefits here.

Antidepressant

This spice is a great source of Crocin and Safranal. These two are beneficial for depression treatment. This sunshine spice was found to be as effective as fluoxetine and Citalopram, the most famous antidepressant drugs.

Weight loss

Saffron will improve your mood, and would decrease the desire to snack. It also controls the amount of Serotonin. When Serotonin is enough in your body, you will feel full and eat less. Due to these facts, this spice should help weight loss.

Helping the cardiovascular system

Some review studies proved that using this spice would reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. These kinds of effects should protect the body against heart problems.

Anti-cancer

This magical herb is rich in antioxidants. These antioxidants could help to destroy cancer cells with no harm on the health body cells.

Anti-anxiety

Drinking a cup of saffron tea or syrup in the evening or at night will help you to have a calm and relax sleep. Using it regularly will reduce stress and treat the anxiety.

Improving memory

Using saffron daily will help brain cells and improve memory. The result of some studies indicated that using saffron could slow down the Alzheimer’s progression. The golden spice components could also treat the Parkinson disease by affecting brain cells.

Eyesight

This spice could improve your eyesight. The mechanism is not specified yet, but the effect is clear. If you want to this benefit, you should use the spice every day and regularly. No matter when, but every day use this spice in your beverages or foods.

PMS

This syndrome is a feminine one. The complete name is premenstrual syndrome. This syndrome is happening during menstrual cycle and causes a variety of other annoying syndromes. In order to relief without chemical drugs, using saffron every day could be alternative.

Skin and Hair

This spice could improve skin and hair. It was said that Cleopatra, the most beautiful queen of Egypt, take the saffron and milk bathe every day. You can make different masks for skin and hair from this magical spice.

How to use saffron

In order to use saffron, you should make it ready. Some people put the threads just under their tongue, it is not recommended. It is better to brew the threads before use. This brewing should conduct the full color and aroma. There are tow main brewing methods, hot and cold.

Hot brewing

In this method, you need water and saffron. Some recipes add sugar or salt, you can add one of them, or both, or even none.

Use mortar or ponder to grind some threads. Add a pinch of this powder to the boiling water. Wait 4 to 5 minutes. Using it hot or cold has no different and it is just depends on your taste.

Cold brewing

Make saffron powder with mortar or ponder, then add an ice cube to it. Let the ice melt. Your spice is ready to use now.

You can add this saffron water to your foods or beverages. You can even drink it as an herbal tea. It is better to add a pinch of sugar, when you are grinding the spice. The sugar does not change the taste of spice but help it to grind better.

Saffron storage

Many people ask how and where they can store saffron in a long time. The storage of this spice depends on the amount of it and which shape you want to store it.

The first and the most important law to store this spice is using airtight containers. It is recommended that the glass and metal containers are the best choice to store spices, especially this one.

If you want to store saffron water or any other saffron products, put your airtight container in the fridge, it is better to freeze your product.

If you want to store saffron powder or threads, put the closed container in a dry, cold and dark place.

If you put the container in warm place, your spice would lose its aroma. It does not mean that the spice would smell bad; it means that it would smell less and less, and may be unscented. When you put your spice container in a humid place, it may mold and become useless.

Light would affect the aroma and coloring of this spice. The metal airtight containers are good choice to avoid light.

With this method, you can store your spice near a year. It is better to store your spice as threads not powder. If you make saffron products and freeze them, you should store them for 2 weeks, not more.

Tips for using saffron

There are some tips over using saffron. These tips help you to have the maximum properties of this magical spice.

• It is better to use saffron water. It means that you should brew it in water, ice or milk then add it to your recipes.
• Do not use too much saffron. In most of the recipes it is written that just a pinch is enough. This is because the strong aroma, color and taste of this spice. Too much use of this spice not only could destroy the flavor of your recipes, but also may be harmful.
• It is better to grind the threads before use. This will help the better color and aroma.
• Do not hurry! Let the spice brew well and completely. Then add it to your recipes.
• Be careful about the additives. Use something to improve the effect of golden spice like cinnamon and cardamom or honey.

Types of saffron

When people all over the world learnt about saffron and its benefits, they start to plant it in their lands. Due to the desired climate and other conditions that need to plant this spice, it won’t grow everywhere. Today there are some types of saffron spice based on the growing land. Iran, Spain, India, Morocco, Greece and Italy could produce the red gold, but there are many differences.

The spice of Morocco, Italy and Greece has no categories. The final product could not be in the best and high quality saffron.

In the best quality categorization of this spice, the production of Iran stands in the first place, then is Spanish and the third place is for Indian products. These three countries’ products have different categories, based on shape, drying method and quality.

The Iranian saffron is more expensive than the Spanish and Indian one. Almost 85 percent of this spice usage around the world produces in Iran. Undoubtedly, This is because of the climate and other needed conditions.

To illustrate the definition of types consider that Iranian types of saffron are called Sargol, Super Negin, Negin, Pushal, Daste or Bunch, Powder and Kong or root, while Spanish types are called Coupe, La Mancha, Rio and Sierra.

How to choose saffron

One of the most important things in buy and use saffron is knowing its characteristics and choose the best one or the one with the highest quality. There are different methods for choosing good spice.

There are many different ways to test this spice and choose it, we mention four simple and common ways here. If you can not choose good one, it is better to buy it from trusted and known producers.

Shape

The shape of the strands is like a hornet, wide at the top and thin at the end. This is the shape of Super Negin and Sargol. The shape of Pushal is a little different. At the end, it has the yellow part, which is called the root.

Aroma

The aroma of this spice could spear even from the airtight container.

Color

The color of the strands is dark red. Be careful if the color is too dark, the threads may burn during the drying process. The color should be bright.

Taste

If you put a stigma under your tongue, you can taste a soft and sweet bitterness. This is the taste of real ones.

How to use saffron in different dishes

Saffron as a great spice could use in different recipes, like beverages, foods and even desserts. It is better to use saffron powder, but due to fraud, it is recommended to you, yourself grind your threads and use them. If you want to add it to your beverages, you can use the strands. Using the powder helps you to have the best color.

Foods

This spice is added to the foods like rice, meat, chicken, fish and seafood. The red gold has a fragrant aroma; hence it could improve the smell of the dish.

The famous Italian Risotto is yellow because of this colorful spice. The delicious French Bailobae smells great due to this aromatic spice. There are many famous and infamous dishes in the world that they are could not cook without this spice.  

Beverages

You can make tea, syrup and any other drinks with this spice. This sunshine spice could add to hot or cold water, green, black or white tea, milk, wine, or any other liquids you want.

The color, flavor and aroma of this spice make a luxury beverage, which you can serve at your parties.

Drink the saffron beverages are recommended by experts. Drink it in the morning will make your day and use in in the evening will help you have a calm and relax sleep.

Desserts

If you add this spice to your desserts, you will add color and aroma to it. You can make a new flavor by adding this to different desserts recipes. You can have saffron Pana cotta dessert, or Tiramisu with the flavor and yellow color of this spice. There are some Iranian desserts, that this spice is one of the most important ingredients of them, like SholeZard.

Safety and side effects of saffron

Most people use different kind of spices in their daily diet, but when the topic is saffron it is a bit different. This spice has lots of health benefits, but the high amount of usage could be toxic. Experts believe that at least 30 mg of this spice per day is enough for use all its health benefits. In addition, in some cases, doctors prescribe not to use this golden spice at all.

Using 1.5 grams of Saffron is somehow a red line that you are advised not to cross. If you are a first-time user of a lower amount than the above mentioned grammage of the spice while you are taking antidepressant or blood thinners drugs, you’d better consult your doctor. That is because saffron itself is an effective natural antidepressant and has a controlling effect on your blood pressure.

Safranal and Crocin as the main constituents of saffron are proven as low or nontoxic agents in different toxicity experiments and clinical studies. Going beyond the usage of 5 grams of saffron is reportedly counted as toxic for your organs. More than 10 grams of the “red gold” could be deadly or cause permanent harm.

People with bipolar disorder, pregnant women and mothers who breastfeed need to reduce or stop saffron usage. Doctors said that people with stomach or colitis ulcer should not use it.

An allergic reaction has been reported in some cases of being eaten or exposed to saffron, especially from those people who are exposed to high amounts of saffron in spice stores or saffron processing factories, although a high dose of any kind of spices could be allergenic.

Conclusion

Saffron has a long, great and adventures story. It has also wonderful applications and benefits. Most experts believe in its health benefits and prescribe it for daily use.

Most Asian chefs use it to give color and flavor to their dishes. This was an Asian spice, but its fragrant aroma and awesome color make other countries to use and plant it. Today the most well known spice all around the world is saffron. Most chefs use it as their secret additive to their recipes. They even prevent personal recipes by using this stupendous spice.

If you are not using it yet, add it to your diet as soon as you can and enjoy it as a spice and treatment.