Saffron is famously known as the World’s most costly spice. Derived from the flower of Crocus Sativus or Saffron Crocus, it is mainly used as a seasoning or colouring agent in the food. The stigma and the stylus of the flower are known as threads and these vivid threads are harvested and bundled off to be sold in the markets. The flower is in sterile triploid form which means every flower bears three stigmas and is unable to propagate on its own. The principle essential oil in the saffron is known as picrocrocin and the colouring matter in the flower is known as crocin. The fragrant agent in the flower or the aroma is known as Safranal.
The spice is especially so costly because of the extremely labour intensive harvesting process. For a 450 gram final product, approximately seventy thousand crocus flowers need to be handpicked to be able to yield the two lakh saffron stigmas, which make the 450 gram product. To give you a more accurate estimation of the extent of labour required, 20 labour hours are needed to pick these seventy thousand flowers. Roughly 1 gram of final dried saffron product requires a yield of 150 flowers and 400 grams of fresh saffron strands produce 5 grams of final dried saffron product.
This costly spice is thought to originate in the Middle East Asia and is mainly cultivated in Iran, some parts of Spain, France and Italy and in Kashmir in India. The colour and the flavour are focussed in the stigma, therefore the grades of the spice is determined through the abundance of the stigma in the final product.
Now that you are well aware of its properties and the real reason as to why is it the costliest spice in the world, let us talk about why is the spice so much hyped? If it is so expensive, why buy it, right? Let us get to know the various benefits of the spice.
Saffron contains powerful antioxidants that protect your cells from free radical damage. Crocin, crocetin, safranal and kaempferol are some of the antioxidant compounds present in the spice. Research shows that it can improve your learning ability and memory, improve inflammation and may have certain anti depressant properties.
Saffron is also known as sunshine spice as it helps to lift the mood and is proved affective against mild to moderate depression.
Saffron is also considered as a strong contender in reducing PMS symptoms in women between the age of 20 to 45. It lowers the level of stress hormone called cortisol and anxiety.
Saffron also aids in weight loss and reduces appetite. People taking regular saffron supplements were found to snack less frequently than the people who did not. One theory says that, since the spice uplifts mood, it aids in curbing stress appetite, thereby aiding in weight loss and less appetite.
Saffron is also being studied by researchers for its properties that could improve memory issues in Alzheimer’s patients.
So, now that you know about the spice so much, try adding it into your daily life and see for the big changes yourself.
