A Luxury That Grows Inside A Flower

Initially, it might seem spurious that a spice, bitter in taste, can have its value equivalent to gold. Well, the world is full of wonders like Saffron – The Autumn Gold. Selling in the market at an astounding price of $10,000 per kilo, this hefty price can be credited to the intensive workforce it demands during a single harvest period. The cultivation of this spice requires a tremendous amount of labor and patience, done at a hot place with abundance of water during the month of Autumn, hence the name.



Crocus Sativus, the violet flower from which saffron is extracted is grown mainly in the hot and dry terrains of Morocco. Each crocus flower contains exactly three red stigmas, also known as the saffron strands. Just to accumulate a kilogram, five hundred thousand strands are needed from a hundred and sixty thousand flowers. Each delicate flower is plucked by hand to avoid degradation and this fourteen hour back-breaking task is done in the dim starlight showers of night because the flowers sunbathe in the daytime. From sowing to harvesting to selling in the market, no technical aid is used by the farmers; everything is done from hands to preserve the rich quality of the spice.



Seasoning suggestions of Saffron are virtually limitless, from luscious sweets to protein rich Biryani, saffron has found its way deep into many delicacies. A wide variety of medicinal benefits are also observed as saffron is believed to help bring radiance to skin, repairing scars and overcoming puny to moderate depressions. Alexander-The Great, used it in his bathes as a curative for battle wounds. The clothing industry has also enjoyed the virtues of this heavenly spice as it proved itself to be a successful fabric dye and provide a rich orange hue to the cloth.

The association of luxury with saffron can be traced back to the Maharajas of Southeast Asia. Though saffron was regarded as a heavenly sweet smelling spice by many Persian and Greek civilizations and its first appearance was revealed to be around fifty thousand years ago in the form of pigments, the Maharajas were the first to bring forth the benefits of this spice and grow it in their gargantuan croplands. Only the rich could afford buying such an exquisite and expensive spice. Therefore it became the indicator of an individual’s wealth and hence, luxury.

Sapphire blue colored crocus flowers bearing highly valued and revered crimson red strands of saffron are truly a wonder of nature. The rich aroma it provides, the enhanced taste it brings to the eatables, all add to the wide variety of its uses making it a truly remarkable item in the luxury market.