A ounce of saffron is more expensive than gold.
It is shrouded in mystery.Some say the plant is from Iran, while others say it's from Greece.A pound of saffron can cost up to $5,000 when it is picked and dried.One of the most expensive spices is saffron.This is what makes it so valuable.
Rosemary can be dried at home with a piece of paper and an oven.A food processor is all you need.It takes up to 170,000 individual flowers to yield 1 pound of saffron, according to Business Insider.Like buying a tailored suit or piece of fine art, the wildly high cost of this innocuous red spice comes from the sheer manpower it takes to harvest it correctly.
The journey of saffron doesn't end when the flower is picked, according to a post-doc at the University of Vermont.
"Saffron is dry or dehydrated," said Ghalehgolabbehbahani.The stigma is the female part of the flower.You have to get rid of that stigma.You need laborers for all of these procedures.
saffron flowers are harvested at dawn in the countries where saffron provides a source of income for farmers, because overexposure from the sun degrades the quality of the flower.saffron flowers only bloom one week per year and they only produce three usable stigma threads per flower.The work of removing the stigma begins after the flowers are gone.
It can take up to 40 hours of handpicking to produce 1 pound of saffron.It is difficult to harvest the spice and grow it.saffron needs hot weather, direct sunlight and well-drained soil to thrive, as it only flowers in October and November.Iran is the largest saffron producer with 90 percent of the world's supply.