Page 9 - Fine Mediterranean Gourmet ProductsEng

affron, the GOLD OF GREEK EARTH as it is called, was
among the most popular and valuable spices of ancient
Scivilizations, for its flavor, color, pharmaceutical and
aphrodisiac properties.
Cleopatra used it in her cosmetics, ancient Phoenicians in
their offers to Goddess Astarte, Homer mentioned it in his writ-
ings, while we still find it in The Old Testament.
The residents of the area plant saffron every summer and
when Autumn arrives remove by hand the precious spots of
the beautiful flower and they carefully drain them so that
they make the deep red delicate yarns. Nearly fifty thousand
spots are needed in order to produce 100 gr of red saffron.
The Greek saffron belongs to the highest quality of saffron in
the world.

Cultivation out in October/November and they form small bristled cones,
The cultivation of edible saffron is made for the reddish stig- which after some hours they open losing their first shape. These
mas of its flower (three columns of pistil), which is a product of consist of:
high pharmaceutical, collouring, flavoring and scenting * Six navy-purple petals, 4-5cm in length and 1cm in width
value. * Three yellow stamens
* The column which is divided into three stigmas
Cultivating species of Saffron & special herbal characteristics * The ovary which is narrow and contains many brown, round
The only kind of saffron that is systematically cultivated around shaped sperms
the world, for at least ten centuries, is the edible saffron or as The stigmas in particular, which give the prodrug of the plant,
it known in scientific (botanical) terminology Crocus Sativus are glossy coloured red to orange and their length is 40-50mm,
Linneaus. The special botanical features of this kind of saffron together with the part of the column. On the top they are
are: jagged and because of their weight they are drooping; many
times outside of the cone formed by the petals.
1. Bulbs
Diameter of about 2-3cm, fleshy with spherical shape with 3. Leaves
brown meshy tunics. The leaves that come out directly from the bulb are deep-
green, sword-like and streaked. They grow during the winter
2. Flowers and in spring they reach 40-50cm, at which point they are har-
There can be up to three flowers from each bulb, which come vested just before they dry out.

Trading from Eurobrazil
The gathering of the saffron product in the Cooperative starts
immediately after the drying, sorting and purifying the stigmas.
The large quantities of Kozani’s saffron are sold in stigmas which
are packaged and sold in the market in small packs of 0.5, 1, 2,
4 and 28gr. Saffron in such packages is intended for use as
flavouring in various foods.
Form in which the product is available
1. Saffron is normally available in the form of a flexible, soft, elas-
tic and hygroscopic mass of whole threads from the dried stig-
mas of the Crocus Sativus Linneaus.
2. In the form of powder after the grinding of its red threads.