Saffron

Saffron is a remarkable spice in many ways, and the highest quality is incredibly expensive - near enough the same price per gram as gold. In fact, in the early 1800s, it was the same price as gold on the Philadelphia commodities exchange market. It’s also incredibly back-breaking to harvest, it can’t be done with machinery, and the crocus flowers from which it comes must be harvested on the same day that they open, or else they wilt. Due to this labour-intensive process, the production has usually been limited to areas where labour is considered inexpensive, but also where the climate is just right. The plants need a reasonable amount of rain when planted, but then very little once they sprout, and definitely none once they flower. Iran, Crete, Turkey, Morocco, Spain, Kashmir, Italy and parts of America are all great places to grow it, but harvest costs can vary enormously in these countries and perhaps not surprisingly the bulk of the world’s crop comes from Iran - more than 90 per cent. The saffron in the photo is actually from Cromwell in New Zealand. Until relatively recently saffron hadn’t been grown in New Zealand, but now there are around 40 growers producing it in the Canterbury and Otago areas alone. I have to say that the best is of the highest quality of any I have tasted. In Britain, it was the Essex town of Saffron Walden that was once the centre of saffron production in the UK, but as I write I’m unaware of any being grown on a commercial scale.