Saffron is the world’s most precious spice, and by weight, it’s also the most expensive—with a price tag of a whopping $5,000 a pound.
Although saffron is not common in the average American diet, it is a staple in Iranian (Persian) cuisine and has a long history in cooking and medicine. Saffron is also widely used as a dye for its resulting brilliant golden color.
Saffron is the tiny, dried stigma of the crocus flower (Crocus sativus). Harvesting saffron is notoriously labor intensive and requires the time-consuming task of hand-separating the stigmas from the flowers. One pound of saffron requires approximately 170,000 flowers, explaining its cost, and value in cooking and medicine. Iran boasts more than 90 percent of the world’s saffron production, but it is also grown in Morocco, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, India, and the United States....
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