Story of Saffron

Saffron, commonly known as red gold, is the most luxurious and expensive spice in the world. The reason for its high price is its labor-intensive harvesting method, which makes its production costly. Saffron comes from the dried bright orange-red stigmas of the flower Crocus sativus and has been used in different cultures and civilizations. For over three millennia, it was cultivated across the Mediterranean, including ancient Greece, Persia, and other cultures, later spreading all over the world. With its bitter taste and light metallic notes, saffron has been used as a spice, fragrance, dye and medicine. Saffron has had many different uses such as a food additive and a palliative agent for many human diseases. Thus, as an important medicinal herb, it is a good candidate with many promising potentials to be considered for new drug design.
The name saffron originates from the Persian word “Zar-paran”. The first syllable ‘Zar’ is the Persian translation for gold. ‘Par’ means flower blossom and can be traced back to the saffron origin, which consists of blossom of purple crocuses. Today, Iran is the main supplier of saffron worldwide with 90-95% of saffron world production. More than 400 tons of saffron are produced worldwide every year.
Despite numerous efforts in some other countries all around the world, only few locations continue to harvest this expensive spice whose saffron production amounts to several kilograms per year. Moreover, micro-cultivation takes place mainly in China, Greece, Italy, Spain, Kashmir and Morocco.