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Saffron is among the world's most expensive spices by weight. It is made from the three red threads at the centre of each saffron crocus flower, and every thread is picked by hand.

History of trade (saffron)

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The red threads are the flower's stigmas, the tips of its female parts where pollen would normally land. Each saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) has only three, so a kilogram of dried saffron takes roughly 150,000 to 200,000 flowers. The flowers bloom for just a few weeks in autumn and are usually gathered early in the morning, before they wilt in the sun; the threads are then plucked out one by one and dried. Oddly, the saffron crocus cannot make seeds at all: it is sterile, so every plant grows from bulb-like corms that farmers dig up, divide and replant. Iran grows about 90 per cent of the world's saffron.

Türkçe oku
Safran, ağırlığına göre dünyanın en pahalı baharatlarından biridir. Safran çiğdeminin her çiçeğinin ortasındaki üç kırmızı iplikten elde edilir ve bu ipliklerin hepsi elle toplanır.

Bu kırmızı iplikler, çiçeğin dişi organının ucundaki tepeciklerdir; normalde polen buraya konar. Safran çiğdemi (Crocus sativus) her çiçekte yalnızca üç tepecik taşır. Bu yüzden bir kilo kuru safran için 150.000 ile 200.000 arası çiçek gerekir. Çiçekler sonbaharda yalnızca birkaç hafta açar ve genellikle sabahın erken saatlerinde, güneşte solmadan toplanır; ardından tepecikler tek tek elle ayıklanıp kurutulur. İşin ilginci, safran çiğdemi tohum veremez: Kısırdır ve her yeni bitki, çiftçilerin topraktan çıkarıp bölerek yeniden diktiği soğanlardan yetişir. Dünya safranının yaklaşık yüzde 90'ı İran'da üretilir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Saffron
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