Saffron

Saffron is the ultimate spice, for it takes up to 300,000 crocus blooms to produce one kilogram of the tiny vermilion-red dried stigma in a process virtually unchanged from that first recorded in Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago. The largest producer of saffron in the world today is Northern India, but the best indisputably comes from Spain, where it has been grown since the Arabs first planted the crocus there in the 11th century.

Saffron was most highly prized during the Middle Ages, when spices were important enough to motivate global exploration and even war. Saffron was then also produced in England – Saffron Walden in Essex takes its name from the local industry – France, Germany and Italy, but as tastes changed it became less popular and by the 18th century Spain alone in Europe continued to produce saffron on a significant scale.