Most of the world's production of saffron hails from Iran. Saffron is an essential ingredient in many Mediterranean recipes. Known as the most expensive spice in the universe, due to the light weight and labor intense production process, saffron threads are harvested by hand from the crocus plant. Saffron can be found in many Mediterranean countries. When I purchased some Iranian saffron powder at a very reasonable price in Verona, Italy, my host snapped back that she only purchased Italian saffron. Touche!
However, with the U.S. trade embargo with Iran, cooks purchasing saffron in the USA are likely buying saffron grown in Spain. Check your packaging, and you will find it is excellent! Saffron as shown below from Whole Foods, can be purchased as threads, coupe, or powder with threads being the highest quality. If you cook often with saffron, consider purchasing it at Costco at the link below for the best price and guaranteed freshness. This large quantity can be divided up for gifts. You will be popular for sure!
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| Saffron purchased at Whole Foods. |
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| Place threads in bowl with hot water 5-15 minutes before adding to your recipe. |
Recipes often recommend that you prepare the threads of saffron by placing in a bowl with a bit of boiling water to extract the flavors. Another method used in Barcelona, is to carefully wrap your saffron threads using aluminum foil as a handle and heat gently over the open flame of your stove to create a smokey flavor. This requires some skill, as I have completely burned my threads attempting this. Just be aware. And, of course, Julia Child included two big pinches of saffron in her Bouillabaisse recipe. I can imagine her hunting down her favorite source of saffron in the Provence markets.
Given the high price of this fragrant spice, you use very little in recipes. For example, when cooking rice, it is recommended that you use 1-4 threads for 1 cup of dried rice. It can also be added to risotto, paella, soups or stews to ramp up the flavor and color.
Donna's Recipe Rice with Saffron (double as needed) serves 2-3
1 cup rice (always even if instant rice be sure to wash under cold water until water runs clear)
1 Tablespoon butter
3-4 threads of saffron
1 3/4 cups boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon herbs de Provence (optional but wonderful)
Method:
While rinsing your rice, boil a kettle of water. Place the saffron threads in a small bowl with about 1/4 cup of boiling water until the water turns yellow/orange.
When you see the saffron is ready (5-15 minutes), melt butter in a covered pan at medium heat, add drained rice and allow the rice to cook lightly in butter for 2 minutes. Add herbs de Provence. Stir. Add the saffron and colored water to a measuring cup and add additional boiling water from the kettle to measure 1 3/4 cups total. Gently add the boiling water to the rice. Stir, cover the pot, reduce heat to LOW. Keep covered and do not lift lid. Set timer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, raise lid, and fluff rice. Easy and gorgeous!
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| Before closing lid. |
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| Magic after 20 minutes ready to fluff. |
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| Plated with subtle herbs de Provence and SAFFRON threads! |
Purchase the very best saffron at Costco see this link:
Costco Saffron
