I’m Just Wild About Saffron

In The Beginning

Motor City is my background. A grandfather and his eldest son and two of my uncle’s sons work in the auto industry in and around Detroit. They each paid their bills and raised their families but none had cash hiding in the couch cushions. I ate with my grandparents and aunt and uncle and cousins often as a kid. We never wanted for food and the cooking was a mix of Polish and German, my side, and Portuguese, my aunt’s side. Pressures of assimilation had removed most of the family cultural culinary signatures but even if it had not, saffron was not an ingredient on the radar of any of my ancestors.

Saffron connotes a level of prosperity and entitlement we never reached. No doubt our saffron embargo was much impacted by the ignorance of the spice. When an ingredient is expensive, the learning curve is steep and ruin is expensive. Better to go without.

Finally, We Meet

The Ritz-Carlton Naples was my first real exposure to heavy use of saffron. From cream sauces to rice to mousselines to desserts, the Ritz was the appropriate venue for such a spice. Saffron comes, or did, in coveted tins with pictures of the croci fields. Each year, the image changed denoting that next years harvest. I still have one of those tins.

In the course of my cooking career I’ve used saffron aplenty, but, as was done thousands of years ago, was told to cheat and use turmeric in it’s stead. Yes, turmeric has brilliant color but no one would ever confuse the flavor of dry turmeric with saffron. Unless you’ve never tasted the real thing, which is possible.

My favorite specific dish to make is Risotto a la Milanese. In Tallahassee there was an amazing Italian caterer who made just the best risotto. Risotto alla Milanese has the punch of color and flavor from saffron and the woodsiness of Porcini mushrooms. The porcini were her addition. Often times there as many ways to make an Italian dish as there are Italians to make it. Such was the case here.

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Some Saffron Science

Saffron is the stigma of the saffron crocus, crocus staivus. Unlike many spices we use, this does not have its origin in India but instead Greece. The saffron crocus is unknown in the wild and is thought to be a derivative of crocus cartwrightianus. It was likely that the croci were hand selected for the long stigma and that produced the saffron crocus.

 Mythology tells us that Hermes is the cause of the saffron crocus. He accidentally harmed Crocos and drops of his blood became the flower.[1] Certainly a colorful description and fitting with the Greek mythological sense of creation.

The Romans were no stranger to saffron’s uses which for them included its color but also aphrodisiac properties.[2] Even in Rome, with the free slave labor, the price for saffron was steep. Pliny posits that safflower, a much cheaper and inferior yellow flower may have been used in the stead of saffron for coloring. Safflower provides color; it offers nothing for flavor.[3] For full potency, one needed saffron and Roman bakers may have baked saffron breads as gifts for their best customers at Christmas and Easter.[4]

Saffron has been researched for curative and health benefits. The volatile compound safranal contributes chiefly to the affects of saffron, including being an antidepressant. In the on-line article from examine.com, “Saffron’s antidepressant properties are related to serotonin metabolism. Saffron’s side effects, like reduced snacking and an elevated mood, could be the result of increased serotonin action in the body.”  As with anything with high concentrations of compounds, over consumption is a risk.  Saffron in dinner or dessert is not over consumption.

Enter The Spanish

Between the 8^th and 10^th centuries, Spain became the saffron capital and today it shares that with Iran, which produces more than 75% of the saffron.

In either country, the production is the same. Each saffron flower produces three stigmas. Each must be hand picked. Imagine your favorite football team, Ohio State University, perhaps. Now visualize that field turned to a saffron flower field. The production of all those flowers from that field will be enough, 210,000 stigmas, to produce 1 pound, 454 grams, of saffron.

What To Do With It

Saffron is sold in two forms but you should only be focused on one: whole saffron stigmas. From the flower they are supple and fragrant. Dried they are more difficult to smell and in the package, how dry cannot be determined. Your local grocery store is not the place to buy saffron, regardless how fancy the store. As with anything fragrant, turnover is important and in a grocery store there is just no way to know how long the saffron has been on the shelf and how much remains in back stock. If you do not live near a trusted source, I earn a commission from OliveNation.

Even as tiny as the threads are, surface area can be increased to extract more flavor and color and reduce the amount used, saving money. I put the saffron on a cutting board, add a drop of oil to add surface tension and chop the saffron into small bits. The color of saffron is water soluble, so I lose very little color and when I add it to the pan, the oil will just help coat the saffron so it doesn’t burn. Unlike basil’s flavor, which is volatile, saffron’s flavor remains.

Saffron can also be added to the milk when heating for crème Anglaise, which is the base for ice cream. Yes, I just said saffron ice cream. With desserts one can get a bit busy making saffron raisin rice pudding, saffron Bundt cake, saffron truffles, saffron rose ice cream, saffron panna cotta and on and on. You could even make a saffron cardamom simple syrup for a Big Kid drink.

Saffron is worth owning even a small amount, for that’s all you need. The small the portion the better it will be and then you can show off. Honey!, Where’s the thing? Oh, it’s in the cupboard next to the saffron. See?

 

[1] Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne, History of Food, Barnes & Noble Books, 1992 pg 519

[2] ibid.

[3] ibid, pg 520

[4] ibid.