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Saffron...
10 Answers
Why is Saffron so expensive?
Had to buy some, yesterday, and was flabbergasted at how much it costs.
Had to buy some, yesterday, and was flabbergasted at how much it costs.
Answers
A lot of North African 'saffron' is actually safflower, similar in colour but with a more 'petaly' shape as opposed to the strands of true saffron. To add to what everyone else has said this might give you an idea of quite why it is so expensive, 'To glean an amount of dry saffron weighing 1 lb (450 g) is to harvest 50, 000– 75, 000 flowers, the equivalent of an...
12:13 Wed 14th Nov 2012
In the middle ages, the price of a pound of saffron would buy a horse.
It still will.
There are only 2 or 3 strands in each crocus flower. It is hugely labour-intensive. Cheapest bought in North Africa, but even there, don't think of haggling. It would be weighed out in tiny scales and handled with what look like eye-brow tweezers, such is its value.
It still will.
There are only 2 or 3 strands in each crocus flower. It is hugely labour-intensive. Cheapest bought in North Africa, but even there, don't think of haggling. It would be weighed out in tiny scales and handled with what look like eye-brow tweezers, such is its value.
A lot of North African 'saffron' is actually safflower, similar in colour but with a more 'petaly' shape as opposed to the strands of true saffron. To add to what everyone else has said this might give you an idea of quite why it is so expensive, 'To glean an amount of dry saffron weighing 1 lb (450 g) is to harvest 50,000–75,000 flowers, the equivalent of an association football pitch's area of cultivation; '
PS. I live in Saffron Walden which used to be England's major saffron cultivator but it died out in the Middle Ages.
PS. I live in Saffron Walden which used to be England's major saffron cultivator but it died out in the Middle Ages.