Growing Saffron and what I learned

When I lived in Spain, my husband and I attended a Spanish cooking class. The chef told us something that really piqued my interest in saffron. He said that saffron is the most valuable- and expensive spice in the world. I went home and investigated and found it to be true.

What is saffron and why is it so expensive?

Saffron is a common spice used as a flavouring agent. It has an earthy, sweet flavour and is also used a food colourant and a natural clothes dye.

The crocus sativus or the saffron crocus flower produces red threads that are used as a spice, natural colorant and medicine. The problem is, each flower (1 bulb per flower) produces just 3 threads, weighing just 0.006 grams. According to Business Insider, 1 kg of saffron threads has a market value of $10,000.

Growing Saffron

As I like to try my hand at growing those hard to grow, high market value crops like vanilla and wasabi, I thought I would try my hand at growing saffron.

The process was fairly simple. At the time, I used to grow a lot of tulips in pots so I grew saffron in the same way.

Saffron is a Spring flowering bulb so suppliers often open their pre-ordering registrations in May for delivery in September.

I planted my saffron like I did my tulips, in 20cm diameter pots- I think I ordered about 25 bulbs for around £7 that were delivered in Autumn. They over-wintered like tulip bulbs, outdoors just in their pots of free-draining peat-free potting mix. I planted about 3 bulbs per pot. I did not mulch and fed only a couple of times between planting in Autumn and harvesting in Spring.

Sure enough they flowered the following Spring without any special fuss or care.

Harvesting

I enjoyed the striking, early Spring flowers and just before the flowers were about to go over, I harvested the flower for the vibrant red threads.

When not attached to its flower and not dried, the threads are quite fiddly so I had to figure out a way to dry and cure these tiny threads.

I lost a few threads in my experiment, but the best way I found to dry them was to dry them between two small squares of greaseproof paper.

Once dried, the threads were much more robust and can be handled fine and it in this final state you tend to buy them at the supermarket.

I ended up having enough threads to flavour some saffron basmati rice and the rest in a curry.

A little underwhelming, considering the process, but I can see first hand why the spice is so valuable.

Perennial or Annual?

Though the saffron crocus is purported to be a perennial bulb, after harvesting, I enjoyed the evergreen foliage in the pots and kept the bulbs in their pots for a year.

The flowers did not come back the next year which means for bulbs like crocuses or tulips they need to be planted in the ground for them to naturalise and be truly perennial plants, thus increasing your yield, making crocus a great investment- for the long term.