SAFFRON| Most Expensive Spice in the World

What is Saffron or the Red Gold? 

Saffron is a spice with a distinct flavor, aroma and texture. It is sourced from the cherry-colored stigma and styles of the flower Crocus sativus. Kesar is used across the industry for its flavoring, coloring, medicinal, religious, cosmetic, fragrant and nutritional properties. For a detailed overview of Saffron in manufacturing processes, click here

 The reddish tint of this product has entitled saffron: ‘Red Gold’ and ‘the most expensive spice on world.

Why is Saffron so Expensive? 

Below is a list of 7 reasons for Saffron being the most expensive spice in the world:

• 150 Flowers for just 1 gram of Saffron!

Saffron is derived from the stigma and sometimes style (reproductive parts of the flower). These are minuscule and light in weight proportions of the whole flower. An estimate of 450 strands of stigma are needed to form a single gram of saffron. A quick mathematics implies the number of flowers to be around 150,000 for 1 kilogram. Thus such huge quantities for such small yields equate to the High prices of Saffron. 

LABOUR INTENSIVE

Saffron is a very labour intensive crop and is one of the handful crops that are still hand harvested! It’s like the Rolls Royce of spices. This is because it needs so much attention, time, is price but is surely worth every penny spent on it. The process from corm planting to flower harvesting and then to the processing, grading and then packaging of this vermilion spice are labour intensive and completed manually. So much so it takes 400 labour hours to procure 1 kg of saffron.  

DEMAND SUPPLY RATIO

Crocus sativus is an annual crop; it requires land tilling each year before the croms can be embedded in the soil . The flower bloom season is in August but only a small window is open for the harvest.  The flower needs to be plucked immediately within 24 hours of its blooming to prevent the withering. But the royal spice is so indispensable in our lives for the multitude of benefits it provides. It is consumed around the year in your houses and the industries. Also, due to the religious value imparted to the spice, the price of the spice shoots up during the festive seasons across the year. Finite supply and relatively high demand are another reasons making saffron making the most expensive spice in the world. 

• SELECTIVE PLANT ENVIRONMENT

The crocus sativus flower is a very demanding and requires huge exposures of photoperiods (12 hours) with dry, fertile and acidic soil having less moisture. The best altitude for the same would be at an average of 2000m above the sea level

However, the theory claims to grow the crop anywhere in the World but there’s a huge variation of quality of saffron produced across the geographies suited for it! The crocin, safranal and picrocrocin pigments of the spice that factor its colour, fragrance, and taste respectively vary in huge numbers across the regions it is grown. With the Kashmir region being the best combination of all these it yields the best quantities too. Given the combination of climate and soil required, it becomes difficult to commercialize and mass produce the spice. 

HARVESTING

Sowing Seeds, irrigation, pesticides and high amounts of fertilisers; the things synonymous with conventional farming methods, are not relevant for this Premium food product. Saffron flowers are very delicate and hence the spray of pesticides which on one hand will affect the quality of the spice will destroy the flower too.   

While most of the commercial cultivation is done through the HYV (High Yield Variety) seeds or other similar propagation methods, saffron is still simply produced by expert hands. 

• A SPICE FROM HEAVEN!

Saffron is not just a Food Product! It’s a medicine, a cosmetic wonder, a ceremonial object with religious and spiritual sentiment attached, a fragrant, a coloring agent and much more. Saffron, besides having a wide variety of benefits in human consumption, also has a great cultural and religious significance that influences the price of the product. The other wide applications of Saffron associated with the properties of saffron that are medicinal as well as cosmetic, can’t easily be replicated in other natural or artificial products. The demand rockets for the best quality which is already very less in supply.

QUALITY

The incentives for adulteration increase due insufficient knowledge about the product quality standards amongst users. Thus, the purest qualities of saffron and the properties they possess along with the benefits the humans can get from them are just rightly equated with the high prices you pay for them!

For Obvious reasons, PURI BROTHERS can’t reduce the market price for YOU, but for sure WE can OPTIMISE that for YOU! Why pay extra for the extra you don’t want. 

Yes, you read it right there are 3 major properties of saffron: Flavour, Aroma and Colour; depending on your use you may want any one of the three; or all three in excess, and we want you to pay for the property you want and in return receive the best in class of it. Every Saffron variety has a different mix of these 3. We will deliver you the one best for you at the most competitive and unchallenged prices. Still wondering? Have a word with our experts at +918146967058.