Saffron
Each crocus gives three red threads. A kilo takes about 150,000 flowers, picked by hand.
- Made from
- Stigmas of Crocus sativus
- Flowers per kilo
- About 150,000
- Color molecule
- Crocin, a carotenoid
Saffron is the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, a sterile plant that only reproduces when people dig up and replant its bulbs. Each lilac-purple flower carries three crimson threads. About 150,000 flowers, picked by hand in a few autumn weeks, make one kilogram, and premium saffron sells for thousands of dollars a kilo.
Its color comes from crocin, a water-soluble carotenoid that turns rice, cloth and water golden yellow. That made it a dye as well as a spice: saffron-dyed textiles were known in Levantine cities like Sidon and Tyre, home of Tyrian purple, and in China and India. Aegean frescoes of about 1600 BCE show crocus gathering, and the name comes from Arabic za'faran, of uncertain origin; one guess traces it to a Persian word meaning 'gold-feathered'.
Because it's so costly, 'saffron' often means something cheaper. Medieval Europeans called turmeric 'Indian saffron', safflower is sold as 'Portuguese saffron', and powdered saffron is easily faked with turmeric and paprika. The color word 'saffron' usually means a deep yellow-orange, near the app's marigold and amber.
Saffron sits in the long list of colors named for costly materials, alongside ultramarine, Tyrian purple and gold. The yellow it gives is warm and luminous, the opposite of the cheap earth ochre.
Swatches
- Saffron yellow · dyed cloth (approx.)
- Amber · a near neighbor
- Saffron threads · dried stigmas (approx.)
Colors
Sources
- Willard, P. (2001). Secrets of Saffron: The Vagabond Life of the World's Most Seductive Spice. Beacon Press.
- Cardon, D. (2007). Natural Dyes: Sources, Tradition, Technology and Science. Archetype.
- Wikipedia, 'Saffron'.
Hex values are screen approximations. Every page lists its sources.