Thursday, November 28, 2013

Saffron Blooms

The short time saffron is in bloom really makes harvesting the spice a joy rather than a chore. My babies bloomed for only about a week a few weeks back and I got nearly half a gram for later use. Since it's often sold by the gram that's pretty good.

I was talking with some friends recently about my harvest and how much I got from it. They were surprised to find out that it's still so expensive to purchase. After telling them about the work that goes into producing so little they understood a little better. Until recently it was about as expensive a gold. Now it's running around 1/4 the price of gold, still nothing to sneeze about. The middle looks like it's made of gold but I don't think a jeweler would fall for it. What else can you pull out of your garden that's that valuable?  If people knew how expensive it was there would probably be more saffron growers around and of course the price would start to go down. I'm happy just providing enough for what we use which usually isn't much.

It's almost a shame to harvest them since the flowers are so pretty. The vibrant purple color of the flowers really pops in the garden. You can easily see them when they're in bloom as soon as you pull up to the house.

They didn't flower last spring but we'll see if they flower this spring. Still not sure what prompts them to flower.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Saffrons Blooming

It's that time of year again.  The saffron is blooming and there are many more this year than last.  I pulled the treads from one of the flowers and my finger where the juice hit is now a lovely yellow color with a  hint of the aroma I can anticipate.  I will get around to harvesting them some more later today and see what I have so far. A quick look revealed at least four flowers and many sprouts.

The purple color is a welcome sight as the air chills and unfortunately killed all my tomato plants.  As always, next year will be better.

I plan to make a nice saffron bread from my egg bread recipe. The flavors should work well together.