If you've ever wondered why a few grams of saffron cost what they do, the answer is in a field, for a few weeks every autumn. Most of it comes down to hands.
We don't own fields. We buy from the growers, and the photos in this post are from their harvest.
A flower that opens once
The saffron crocus flowers in autumn, usually from late October into November. For a few weeks the fields go from bare soil to purple, and then they're bare again.
Each flower holds three red threads. They're the stigmas, and they're the only part of the plant that becomes saffron. The petals and the yellow parts don't.
The flowers are picked early, ideally before the sun is high. Once a flower opens fully in the heat it starts to wilt, and the threads inside lose quality. So the harvest starts at first light, and every morning brings a new round of flowers.
Why it's still done by hand
A crocus is small, it grows low to the ground, and the threads inside are delicate. The picking and the separating are still done by hand.
The flowers come in from the field in baskets and get spread out on cloths. Then the slow part starts. Open a flower, find the three threads, pull them free, set them aside, reach for the next one. One flower at a time, for hours, through the whole season.
The threads are then dried, which drops most of their weight. That's where the numbers start to add up.
The arithmetic
150 flowers. 450 threads. 1 gram.
About 150 flowers make one gram of dried saffron. That's 450 threads, each one picked and separated by hand. A 5g tin of threads is roughly 750 flowers. A single 125mg Saffron Powder Pod is about 19.
That's why real saffron can't be cheap: the work can't be skipped. And it's why a price that looks too good usually is.
What the grade on the label tells you
Once dried, saffron is sorted into grades. The grade comes down to two things: how long the threads are, and how much of each thread is the red stigma rather than the paler part at its base.
- Super Negin is the top grade. It has the longest and most even threads, all red, with the paler end cut away. Our Almas threads are Super Negin, at 9.5 to 12.5mm.
- Negin is all red too, a little shorter and slightly less even. Our Organic Negin threads run 8 to 12mm.
Why does this matter in your kitchen? The red part carries saffron's flavour and aroma. The more of each thread that's red, the more you get from every pinch, so you use less.
If you're buying saffron anywhere, ask for the grade and the thread length. Whoever sells it should be able to tell you both.
From the field to your day
Most of the people who buy from us don't cook with saffron every day. They have it every day, in a cup.
Our Saffron Powder Pods hold 125mg each, ground and portioned, one pod a day. On the 3-month supply that works out at AED 2.97 a day.
If you liked this, our newsletter is where we write things like it. Join on the site and your first order is 10% off.