Many people think of crocuses as a Spring flower but my favorite ones emerge in Fall. And my most treasured among those is the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). Dormant through Summer, it pops out of the soil in early-to-mid October with a colorful display of purple leaves, yellow stamens (male) and bright red stigmas (female). It’s the stigmas that are the fragrant and rare/expensive spice of interest.
Like many crops, once the flowers emerge, I check and harvest the flowers every day as they come and go much more quickly than a Spring crocus. Yesterday was a particularly fruitful day with many new stigmas to pull. Because of the delicate nature of the flower, I use a pair of tweezers to pluck each saffron thread from the flower: there are usually three.
Bending over the raised bed, the floral, honey-like scent of saffron hits me hard as I patently pull each stigma. The tips of each are marked with yellow pollen from the stamens that have been disturbed by one of the half dozen or so bees that are buzzing around my head harmlessly. It is careful and slow exercise that must be done by hand: there is no potential for automation in harvesting this crop.
It is also the most valuable thing I grow as a single gram of saffron is priced between $10 and $20 dollars per gram. The squirrels look to steal this valuable corm each year but are thwarted by the steel cages I have built around them.
After 30 minute or so, my haul for the day is complete and I set them out to dry. I can begin to taste the paella in my future. Yum!
