In the dark days of Winter many of us keep an eye peeled for signs of Spring. A lone crocus, snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) or grape hyacinth (Muscari) is hoped for. This time of year I look for some of the final Fall flowers. One of my favorites is saffron (Crocus sativus).
Leaves of saffron appear in Spring without flowers dying back over Summer. Then as a chill hits the air in October, tiny spears of green in a white sheath emerge from the soil heralding the arrival of spectacular purple flowers with yellow stamens and an orange-red stigma. It’s the stigma that is harvested as the exotic spice. Juana is watching the flowers readying herself and tweezers to grab these rare and expensive strands.
To thwart the local squirrels, I built cages years ago so these corms would not be repurposed or moved to a different part of the property. This year’s division of the corms looks to be a success with more shoots and flowers than before. I see a few strands of saffron to grab. But before I do, I bend over to inhale its sweet and musky fragrance before it is harvested, dried and committed to a well-protected bottle to be used only for special recipes.
