Saffron

Lore & Background

The English word saffron likely originates from the Old French safran, which traces back through Latin and Persian to the word zarparān, meaning 'gold strung'. Saffron is a sterile, human-propagated, autumn-flowering plant descended from wild relatives in the eastern Mediterranean. It is cultivated for its fragrant purple flowers and valuable red stigmas in sunny, temperate climates. Saffron is primarily used as a culinary spice and natural colourant, with additional historical uses in traditional medicine, dyeing, perfumery, and religious rituals.

Reader's Guide

It is an essential ingredient in Persian cuisine, used in dishes such as chelow and tahdig, stews like khoresh-e fesenjan, and desserts including sholeh-zard and bastani sonnati. The grading depends largely on the ratio of dark red stigmas to yellow styles, with higher concentrations of red parts yielding premium-grade products. Saffron's taste and iodoform-like or hay-like fragrance result from the phytochemicals picrocrocin and safranal, and it contains a carotenoid pigment, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles.

Did You Know?

• Saffron is a sterile triploid form, meaning it has three homologous sets of chromosomes (24 total) and cannot produce viable seeds.
• The English word 'saffron' likely originates from the Old French safran, tracing back to the Persian word zarparān, meaning 'gold strung'.
• The saffron crocus is unknown in the wild and possibly descends from Crocus cartwrightianus, native to mainland Greece and nearby islands.