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Our bulbs vary from grade 8 to 14. 

• Cultivating

Now that we have bought our saffron bulbs from a quality producer, let's put on the garden gloves!

The cultivation is the most important part. Planting takes place between July and September.

• The harvest

The three following steps are inseparable, they must be done on the same day (harvesting, pruning and drying of the saffron).

Flowers appear about 1 to 2 months after planting.

Pruning

Also called peeling, pruning is the process by which the stigmas of the saffron flower are separated. It's a tedious step! You can also use a small curved chisel.

• The drying process

This is a delicate step and it often determines the quality of the saffron as well as its taste. A short drying time will give a saffron taste while a long drying time will give a spicy touch.

You will need to collect your saffron stigmas in a place where the temperature rises between 35 and 45°C for 30 minutes.

Your stigma will lose 4/5 of their water!

Techniques differ from region to region and country to country around the world. In the Maghreb, saffron is dried in open air. In France it is done thanks to an electric oven.

The conservation

To preserve its unique aroma, it is best to keep your saffron in a dry place away from direct sunlight.

It will maintain its unique and superb taste for 3 years.

Usage

Now that the hard part is done, it's up to you to make good use of it!

• The essentials of saffron

The essentials of Saffron

Saffron is the name given to the spice produced by the plant called Crocus Sativus L. This spice comes from the removal and drying of the three scarlet stigmas of Crocus Sativus L. The latter can often be found under the name "saffron bulb", "saffron crocus" or even "saffron onion".

• Crocus Sativus Linnaeus

Only Crocus Sativus L. produces saffron! It is a perennial herbaceous plant that resembles a bulb buried at a depth of about fifteen centimetres and multiplies each year by producing new bulbs.

Crocus sativus has thin green leaves, fragrant flowers with purple petals, a yellow stamen and three precious and long red stigmas that spread beyond its sweet petals.

Saffron characteristics

This spice offers us a unique taste that differs according to those who taste it. Saffron is often characterized by a bitter taste, similar to hay or iodoform. It also contains a carotenoid, the crocin, which gives this particular colour (yellow and gold) to saffron dishes.

• The use of saffron by men

These three stigmas found in the flower of the crocus are the real saffron. Man has made it a very sought-after spice for its uses in medicinal purposes, for seasoning in cooking, for perfumes, or to finish, for its use as a dye.

It takes about 150,000 Crocus Sativus flowers to harvest one kilo of fresh stigmas and nearly five kilos of these fresh stigmas to make one kilo of saffron that can be used as a spice! That’s all !

Thus, because of the quantity and quality of work required to harvest it and its high demand, it is also known as red gold! It is considered to be the most expensive spice in the world. Fortunately, we are here to offer you saffron bulbs at affordable prices!

Would you like to know more about it?

On our website, we invite you to discover in more depth the facets of this wonderful spice. We tell you more about its history, culture, characteristics, cuisine... but also about our personal saffron production!

• The story about saffron

A brief history of saffron

The frescoes of Xeste 3 (dated 1600-1500 BC) found on the Greek island of Santorini.

They represent a Greek goddess supervising the collection of saffron flowers for a medicine.

The history of saffron goes back more than 3,500 years and crosses various cultures, countries and civilizations. Like the teosinte for corn, the wild ancestor of saffron is Crocus cartwrightianus.

As the farmers' efforts progressed, selecting the most useful and interesting species, Crocus Sativusen Crete was born at the end of the Bronze Age. Thus was born the domestic saffron.

A saffron culture that is exported

Saffron then slowly spread throughout Eurasia (notably through the Phoenicians' commercial network), later reaching North Africa, North America and Oceania.

Saffron was first inventoried in Assyrian botanical writings (in Mesopotamia) dating from the Assurbanipal king era (7th century BC).

• The mysteries of Saffron

It is difficult to find the exact origin of the name of this enigmatic spice.

However, we can go back as far as the existence of the Persian word zarparān (which means "has golden stigmas") from which, we can agree, is derived the Arabic term za'farān.

But it was the Persian term za'ferân that gave birth to the old French word "safran", hence the Latin term "safranum".

Thus, if the Latin word " safranum " comes from Persia, it has itself given rise to the English word "saffron", the Spanish word "azafrán" and the Italian word "zafferano".

The other terms meaning saffron in the other languages are: "szafran" (Polish), "shafran" (Russian), "kesar" or "zafran" (India), "sáfrány" (Hungarian), "safrána" (Latvian), "safranu" (Romanian)... What is striking is the incredible similarity of these terms, revealing the global journey of saffron around the world.

However, it was the French city of Boynes that later became "the capital of saffron". It governed saffron prices thanks to the Pithiviers market for nearly 300 years and produced more than 30 tons of saffron in 1789!

The crocus sativus emigrated to America in 1730 with German fugitives who were subjected to religious persecution.

Unfortunately, saffron cultivation disappeared in the 20th century due to high labour costs and especially the arrival on the market of chemical dyes....

• A luxury dish

However, it should be kept in mind that saffron was at that time primarily reserved for the wealthy classes.

Kings, nobles, pharaohs and high clergy perfumed themselves with saffron, coloured their clothes with saffron dye, enjoyed saffron-flavoured dishes and drinks, took baths by adding saffron in water for healing or for romantic accompaniments, slept in beds sprinkled with saffron, and sought their gods with saffron offerings.

Saffron (Crocus Sativus) has always fascinated people with its supposed magical, mystical and medicinal properties.

"Crocologia", a manual for Saffron in Germany, published in 1670 by Hertodt Jena, who praised the virtues of saffron in abundance. He stated that saffron could eradicate all types of diseases from simple toothache to plague eradication!

• Saffron is making its way

Thanks to the Phoenicians, saffron penetrated Greek, Indian, Persian and Chinese cultures. It plays a major role in Greco-Roman civilization. It is said that Alexander the Great used to put saffron in his tea and hot baths believing that this mysterious spice would heal his war wounds.

It was the Romans' turn to make saffron travel: the Roman settlers took saffron with them to the occupied areas (Gaul, North Africa...) and thus made its use known. Saffron was the object of an intense cultivation, but almost completely disappeared with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

In France, the re-introduction of saffron appeared in the 12th century through the crusades and trade with the East. Several French regions still cultivate it (Orléanais, Angoumois...).

From the 14th century onwards, the lucrative saffron trade was coveted (mass theft, piracy, etc.). During the Black Plague, saffron became highly sought after for its medicinal properties, and allowed its trade to flourish.

Gradually, England became the leading producer of saffron in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century using saffron to create shades of yellow and orange

Saffron today

Since the 2000s, saffron cultivation has been enjoying renewed interest. Today more than ever, the magic of saffron continues to work all over the world. The expansion of world trade is advancing the democratization of saffron cultivation. Everyone in Western countries can nowadays, at a reasonable price, buy a saffron crocus and grow it at home. The proof right here!

In France, this expansion of saffron culture has been achieved through the search for a saffron of excellence, at the initiative of the great chefs, who glorify the French saffron factories!

Although Iran produces more than 80% of the world's saffron production (estimated at 120 tonnes per year), many other regions produce it. Almost all saffron production is located in the same geographical latitude: