Saffron

Long treasured as a medicine, perfume, dye, and seasoning, saffron consists of the golden stigmas of the autumn-flowering purple crocus, Crocus sativus. It takes the stigmas of 75,000 blossoms—an acre of flowers—to make one pound of the spice. These must be picked from the crocus by hand, making saffron, currently selling for about $55 an ounce, the most expensive spice in the world.

The beautiful little saffron crocus is native to western Asia and Iran: The name comes from the Persian safra, meaning “yellow.” It has been cultivated throughout the region since ancient times. The Persians’ Sumerian predecessors, from the third millennium bce, called saffron “the perfume of the gods”; in fact, there exists a Sumerian recipe for beer, intended no doubt for the most exalted of drinkers, that includes toasted pomegranate seeds, myrtle, oak, sumac, cumin and, most importantly, saffron.