Crocus sativus / Saffron / Iridaceae (Iris family)

Information

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Other Names

Crocus sativus, Crocus officinalis var. Acafrao, Agnishikha, Azafran, Bhavarakta, Croco fiorito, Croco senza, Fan hong hua, Fiori, Fior cuculo, Fuszersafrany, Grogo domestico, Jafran, Kaashmirii keshara, Kashubha, Keshar, Klungumapu, Kruku, Kuma-kuma, Kungumapu, Kunkumapave, Kunyit kering, Kurkum, Mangal, Mangalya, Nghe, Romiet, Saffraan, Safran, Saffran, Safrankrookus, Saffron, Safuran, Sahrami, Sapran, Shafran, Szafran, Zaafaran, Zafraan, Zafran, Za'faran, Zafferano, Zafora.

Historical

Saffron is named among the sweet-smelling herbs in Song of Solomon 4:14. King Solomon's lover is likened to a garden filled with all the choicest fruits and spices, including "Nard and Saffron, Calamus and Cinnamon, with all trees of Frankincense, Myrrh and Aloes." It was used as a perfume in Greek and Roman halls, courts, theatres, and baths. The professional class of Greek courtesans (high-class educated prostitutes) was particularly fond of Saffron as a personal aroma. Nero had the streets of Rome strewn with Saffron for one of his triumphal entries.
The Crocus flower suffused Bronze Age Minoan culture. A famous fresco of that era depicts women with Crocus blossoms woven or embroidered on costumes of Saffron-dyed cloth, wearing Saffron-based cosmetics, picking Crocus flowers and presenting them to an enthroned goddess. Votive pottery and figurines show the Minoan deity Britomartis all dolled up in a hat-and-dress combo decorated with a Crocus motif.
Indeed, the Crocus appears so often on Minoan artifacts that its precise significance to the citizens of Crete can only be speculated upon. There's evidence it was used in sacred rituals associated with menstruation and childbirth. One thing is certain, though: The flower formed the basis of a flourishing overseas trade. Even back then, Saffron must have cost a pretty drachma.
Because of being triploid, Saffron is necessarily sterile, and its beautiful flowers cannot produce any seeds; propagation is possible only via corms. Distribution over larger distance requires human help, and so it's surprising that Saffron was known to the Sumerians almost 5000 years ago. It is not known, however, how the spice was transported from the Mediterranean to Sumer in Mesopotamia.
The history of Saffron cultivation reaches back more than 3000 years. The wild precursor of domesticated Saffron Crocus was Crocus cartwrightianus. Human cultivators bred wild specimens by selecting for unusually long stigmas. Thus, a sterile mutant form of C. cartwrightianus, C. sativus, emerged in late Bronze Age Crete. Experts believe Saffron was first documented in a 7th century BC Assyrian botanical reference compiled under Ashurbanipal. Since then, documentation of Saffron's use over the span of 4000 years in the treatment of some 90 illnesses has been uncovered. Saffron has been used as a spice and medicine in the Mediterranean region since then, with usage and cultivation slowly spreading to other parts of Eurasia as well as North Africa and North America.
In the last several decades, Saffron cultivation has spread to Oceania.
Since the 15th century, numerous attempts have been made to introduce Saffron production to German, Switzerland, Austria and even England. Today, all these Saffron cultivation sites have been abandoned, with the sole exception of Mund, a small Swiss village in canton Wallis. In Mund, a few kilograms of Saffron per year are produced in traditional way, at an elevation of about 1200m.

Plant Description

Saffron is a small perennial plant which is cultivated in many places, but particularly in France, Spain, Sicily, and Iran. After a period of aestivation (rare state of dormancy similar to hibernation, but during the months of the summer) in summer, five to eleven narrow and nearly vertical green leaves, growing up to 40 cm in length—emerge from the ground. In autumn, purple buds appear. Only in October, after most other flowering plants have released their seeds, does it develop its brilliantly hued flowers, ranging from a light pastel shade of lilac to a darker and more striated mauve. Upon flowering, it averages less than 30 cm in height.
Inside each flower is a threepronged style; in turn, each prong terminates with a crimson stigma 25-30 mm in length. Being sterile, the saffron crocus's purple flowers fail to produce viable seeds, thus, reproduction is dependent on human assistance: the corms (underground bulb-like starch-storing organs) must be manually dug up, broken apart, and replanted. A corm survives for only one season, reproducing via division into up to ten "cormlets" that eventually give rise to new plants. The corms are small brown globules up to 4.5 cm in diameter and are shrouded in a dense mat of parallel fibers.

Articles

Any information provided about products on this website, including any links to external websites, is purely intended for historical, scientific and educational purposes and should never be interpreted as a recommendation for a specific use of the products.

Crocus sativus - Conjuring Color and Flavor in the Autumn Garden
Crocus sativus - Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages
Crocus sativus - Wikipedia