Cooking With Saffron

My dear friend, Sarah, gave me saffron last Christmas. A goodly sized container of saffron, at that.

She said to herself, “Self. I am going to buy Chelle the most expensive spice available on our planet— and I’m going to buy enough to make it count.”

And she did.

What makes saffron so special?

The flavor is completely unique. It is almost impossible to define using other flavors as a base of reference. The best I could explain would be to say that if you stood in the surf, took a deep breath of ocean air, were somehow able to add a pinch of honey sweetness to it and then kissed the love of your life as you slowly exhaled it through your nose— you would almost know what saffron tasted like.

Why is it so expensive?

Remember in elementary school science class when we learned about flowers and how they have stigmas and stamens?

The stamen is the “boy part” and is in no way useful or desirable to us (I’m not making this stuff up) and the stigma is the girl part and is HIGHLY desirable in cooking for it’s flavor, sweet smell and aesthetic appeal.

I kid you not.

(Spice imitates life.)

Each saffron crocus has only THREE tiny stigmas and they have to be carefully handpicked out of the flower leaving the boy part behind to fend for himself. (“See ya!”)

Here is where the math gets fun: to get ONE ounce of saffron you need— are you ready?— FOURTEEN THOUSAND stigmas.

The good news is that the flavor is very powerful and you only need a tiny bit to get the job done.

Sarah bought me a 3 gram container which contains 1,482 stigmas/threads (no I didn’t count them— I just did the math) that were each handpicked before she lovingly wrapped them and gave them to me. (Love you, Sarah!)

What does Saffron look like when you buy it?

It can come in powder form but it’s a bad idea to buy it that way because it oftentimes gets “cut” with fillers (like in the drug trade— seriously) so you may not get what you think you’re getting— plus it loses its potency much more quickly.

The better way to buy it is to get the orangy-red threads— looking like they just got pulled from the flower— and they can be stored for fairly long periods of time. The redder the threads are the better the quality of the saffron.

(Note: Sometimes lower quality threads get colorized in the same way that Ted Turner has done countless movie classics— but it’s easy to tell when this has been done because the stigmas are a perfectly uniform in color from end to end. You do not want that. If the threads have NOT been adulterated in any way the color looks faded at the ends. You can’t duplicate that when you dye lower quality saffron.)

When you cook with saffron it gives your dish a yellow-y color very similar to turmeric. Because of this, “saffron rice” and other saffron dishes in restaurants are sometimes made with inexpensive turmeric instead. Turmeric may duplicate the color but since it has no taste you will be missing out on the true saffron experience.

Fortunately, the tiny orangy-red threads survive the cooking process so if you look closely you should be able to see them in your yellow colored saffron rice.

How do you use it?

Simple! Soak the threads ahead of time in a liquid that you don’t mind adding to your recipe. Water, white wine or soup stock all work very well.

Soak them for 2 to 12 hours (1 part saffron to 3 or 4 parts liquid) and then incorporate them into your dish!

There are some quick soak methods if you’re in a hurry— but if you’re going to use the most expensive spice in the world shouldn’t you use the proper soaking method?

If you were to just add the dry threads to whatever you’re cooking you would be able to see them in your final dish but you wouldn’t get any of the taste benefit.

So there you have it. You’re now a saffron expert. Grab your wallet and go buy some— or befriend Sarah and be really, really sweet to her until at least Christmas!

-becauseiamworthitchelle

Check out some of my other recipes (most of them are original) and progress pics:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/279170-chelle-s-cauliflower-mashed-potatoes

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/307942-169-calorie-big-big-big-bowl-of-noodles

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/308337-by-request-pic-of-the-169-calorie-big-big-big-bowl-of-nood

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/309503-my-236-calorie-very-filling-italian-style-lunch

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/294301-quick-filling-super-spicy-55-calorie-snack

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/300028-a-delicious-245-calorie-lunch

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/291632-cauliflower-pizza-crust

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/322339-bathing-suit-progress-pic-after-48-pound-12-week-loss