Saffron

This is Morocco’s spice par excellence, hardly used elsewhere in North Africa. The fine red filaments from the stigma of a crocus are incredibly labour-intensive to produce and command very high prices. From Kashmir, where it originated, the Crocus sativus travelled through the Middle East to Moorish Spain, where it is still cultivated on a large scale, and then to Morocco. Production is in the Atlas Mountains and in Ourika, in the south.