Saffron

Saffron (za’faran) is the dried, thread-like, red-orange and sometimes yellow stigmas of the blue-violet, lily-shaped flowers of the crocus. The deeper the color of the stigmas, the better quality the saffron is. It was known since antiquity in Mesopotamia, as well as the surrounding areas. It was used in food, wines, as a dye, in perfumes, and as a medicinal drug. In Akkadian it was called ‘azupiranu,’ from which the Arabic za’faran was borrowed. Around the eighth century ad, the Arabs introduced it to Spain. It is one of the most expensive spices in the world, almost ten times as much as vanilla, because the flower stigmas are very light and are hand-picked. About 20,000 stigmas will produce only 4 ounces of saffron.