Find Out Why Saffron Is The World’s Most Expensive Spice And How It Grows

Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice.

You’ve probably seen it in the spice aisle of your supermarket. There among the jars full to bursting with cinnamon, cloves, mustard seeds, fennel, cumin, cilantro and such is a jar with an envelope in it. Inside the envelope is the saffron. So valuable that you don’t get a full jar like the other spices — but a small envelope. For usually twice the price of all the other jars.

The world’s most expensive spice.

There is good reason for this as you will see.

What is Saffron and How Is It Produced

Saffron is made from the stigma of a crocus flower. The stigmas are those tiny, fuzzy parts in the very center of the blossom that stick out one needle thin little stalks.

Each crocus plant has only three (three!) of these stigmas — each about as big as a grain of rice. So it takes about 100,000 stigmas — all picked by hand — to make a pound of pure saffron.

And remember, these come from the flower of the plant — so saffron can only be collected once a year during a very small window of opportunity.

Add Politics to the Equation

Although the politically stable country of Spain produces some of the world’s best saffron, much of the rest comes from Iran and Kashmir. Political unrest, wide-spread corruption and transportation nightmares are the main reasons for the infusion of foreign producers to the former crown colony.

Political unrest affects the saffron crop the most. The Middle East, causes an infusion of saffron from other countries, known as saffron from Iran, and Kashmir. And then there is the transport nightmares.

On the Organization of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s web site, there is a current famine situation in Pakistan which is caused by crop failure and resulting political unrest. The U.N. high Commissioner for refugees, Antonio Hourglass, recently trekked to a region in Pakistan near the Afghanistan- Pakistan- borders to survey the damage and speak with local farmers, workers, and residents. He reported that 20,000 people were dying of hunger and disease and another 20,000 were gone of elderly.

One bright spot is the shelter begun by the U.S. government with the International HELP Syria mission. The mission involves civilians who have fled their homes because of fighting between the government and the outlawed al-Qaeda group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The United Nations and other humanitarian organizations are working with local forces to deliver food and other supplies. They are providing medical supplies,Response teams, and alternatives to local markets.

The most recent reports deal with relief supplies.

In early July, the UN reported that food prices had topped 50% in some parts of the world and that it was likely to get much worse before the summer.

A report in the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, on July 8, 2006, reported that a major British think tank had predicted a food crisis was coming because of global financial excesses and food speculation.

As 2011 comes to a close, it must be noted that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization did not see this as an “imperium moment” and that although the United States had very much stepped back, it wasn’t a total disaster. Still, it was clear that things were not going to get any better.

Why is this a problem?

The problem, basically, is that too much of the food we eat is nutritionally imbalanced. That is, while it might be delicious, it is not nutritionally balanced. While there is some controversy about the causes of agricultural over-production (for example, it is sometimes said that modern farming techniques make food too easy to grow which makes our populations grow too large), there is no evidence that this is a major issue.

Some people are concerned that organic food is more nutritious than traditionally grown foods. The European Union has a general consensus that organic is generally more nutritious than other food sources. However, many people are concerned with the premium that organic foods command. Organic foods are generally more expensive because the supply is limited as compared to demand.

The main thing about organic food, however, is that it is grown without the benefit of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and the like. Traditionally grown products are typically grown with fertilizers, and that causes an excess of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are associated with many diseases as well as toxins. In fact, in the recent surveys, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are among the major health problems that are now connected to the nutritional labeling of our foods.