Saffron: Effect, production and price of the precious spice

Saffron is the most expensive of all spices. Cooking with real saffron is a luxury. We have researched for you what effect the spice has on your health and how it is manufactured.

Saffron: effect of the spice on health

• You may only know saffron as a very expensive spice in the kitchen. However, saffron doesn't just make the cake "gel". The natural product can do much more.
• Saffron, like many other spices, has been used as a remedy since ancient times. An antidepressant effect is confirmed.
• Saffron also has a positive effect on your eyesight.
• If you suffer from digestive problems or flatulence, saffron has a soothing effect on these symptoms. In another guide, we'll show you which home remedies you can use to get rid of a bloated belly.
• Saffron can also be used medically for stomach complaints and loss of appetite.
• The essential oils in saffron affect breathing. With cough and asthma, the spice can have a positive effect on health.
• Saffron is also said to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

This is how saffron is made

• Obtaining saffron is extremely complex. A certain type of crocus is used, which blooms only on two single days throughout the year.
• The huge cultivation fields, which are mainly located in Iran and partly also in Spain, have to be harvested within two weeks.
• This is done by hand and on the morning of the first day of flowering. Only the three fine, just two to three centimeters large, red-orange pistils of the flower are harvested.
• The small light yellow pistils of the flower must not be harvested. They reduce the quality and thus the price of the saffron.
• Iranian saffron is dried after harvesting. In the end, the water content may only be between 5 and 20 percent. The saffron from Spain is toasted instead of dried and therefore has a different aroma.

Saffron in the kitchen: a luxury ingredient in cooking

• If you know how saffron is made, you can explain the high price of the special spice. The effort is immense.
• In addition, only a minimal part of the plant is used. To get a kilo of saffron, up to 200, 000 crocus flowers have to be harvested.
• There is no machine that can take over the saffron harvest. Everything is pure manual work.
• The quality also determines the price. Real, pure saffron costs from 5 euros per gram.

In addition to saffron, there are other, significantly cheaper, healthy spices: the healing effects of cinnamon and the like are described in the next article.