Saffron Buns Making Come Back
Yellow spice adds flavor and unique color
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae.
Saffron, botanical name crocus sativus, is the most expensive spice in the world. Derived from the dried stigmas of the purple saffron crocus, it takes anything from 70,000 to 250,000 flowers to make one pound of saffron. Moreover, the flowers have to be individually hand-picked in the autumn when fully open. Fortunately, only a little needs to be added to a dish to lend it colour and aroma; too much makes the food bitter and as the quotation from Culpeper (below) suggests, large quantities of it can be toxic.
Expensive but Soooo worth the price.
Saffron comes from the saffron crocus bulb (Crocus sativus), which is an autumn blooming crocus. The spice is actually the red stigmas of this crocus flower. Each flower will only produce 3 stigmas and each saffron crocus bulb will only produce 1 flower.
Once you have purchased the saffron crocus bulbs, you can plant them in your yard. As they are fall blooming crocus, you will plant them in the fall, but it will probably not bloom the year you plant them. Instead, you will see foliage in the spring, which will die back, and saffron flowers the following fall.
After your saffron crocus bulbs are planted, they need very little care. They will be hardy down to -15 F. You can fertilize them once a year, though they grow fine without being fertilized as well. You can also water them if the rainfall in your area falls below 1.5 inches per week.