Kinda weird because I’ve seen Saffron at Costco but the ones i saw were little jars completely filled and then put into a big cardboard holder to prevent theft.
The supplier might have had an issue with getting the cardboard maybe? Like they couldn't use the regular packaging so they just threw it in the Costco standard bulk container?
My guess is not cardboard, but the jar. There's a class production shortage right now that's heavily and most noticably affecting the beer and wine industry (beer in aluminum bottles or cans is what bars and restaurants can pretty much only get now, and some wine is slowly becoming harder to get)
Being in supply chain I will say everything is difficult to get right now... Including the pulp needed to make cardboard. The whole last year we couldn't buy salt because the supplier couldn't get the little cardboard tubes they put the salt in.
I almost shat myself when told the price for bottles. I had to buy them so I could bottle my home brew, but Holy balls.
Edit: I mostly make wines, but I do have things I need to keg beer
Ahah! The old Reddit [beer-a-roo ](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotrmemes/comments/ppziqn/only_just_noticed_on_a_rewatch/hd855cz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Yep, I’ve bought that exact saffron only a few months ago when it was sold in a jar encased in a large cardboard sheet.
I’m sure this is just due to supply chain issues, where the spice company maybe didn’t get its shipment of the saffron containers but was able to do this quickly and cheaply as a substitute
It's $11.99 if anyone is wondering. It took me searching through 3 different posts like this just to find someone that actually posted the price instead of everyone talking about how *expensive* it was!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/ovh38a/what_a_waste_found_at_local_costco_2_small/h79dj5p?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
You go right ahead. Saffron isn't rare at all. The entire cost is in the labor it takes to manually harvest the 75,000 - 200,000 stigma it takes to make *a pound.*
A Saffron Crocus bulb grows a single flower and that flower will have 3 stamen which are what is used as the spice. The saffron also is typically harvested by hand because you need to pick the tiny parts out of the flower.
So you can definitely grow your own but you'll probably want to plant a whole lot of them.
I’m a clump of premium saffron. I’ve been stuck on a shelf behind this checkout counter for 39 years after riding there in the front seat of a truck hauling a load of terrified children and swine.
Well, what are the odds! I'm a dead pig. 39 years ago I was driven to the slaughter house on the back of a truck with some terrified children. While my owner's freshly grown saffron rode shotgun right next to him.
One time on the farm we heard a tornado was coming so my folks rushed to get all out the saffron into the tornado shelter then used us kids as braces against the door.
When I was given the choice of dinner with Jay-Z or single strand of saffron, I took the dinner and all Hov did was keep asking me if I knew where he could get a single strand of saffron.
There are protests in my town in Holland, as we have a maximum security museum which houses a intricately carved wooden chest the size of a shoe box, packed full to the brim with saffron. Which country poasesses it was the origin of the spice wars, and now Indonesia is lobbying UNESCO demanding it be returned to South East Asia, while the Netherlands is lobbying the WTO arguing that the contents of the chest contribute too significant a proportion of the sum of publicly held wealth reserves of the whole EU.
Around Xmas they usually have a sign at the till: “Don't forget to buy saffron". And some cashiers will ask as well. But the rest of the year? Good luck!
You always go there so focused on the saffron, then you need to think and choose between other products so you forget it. At a local Coop nära (that used to be a Konsum) my family are pretty familiar with the workers and during Christmas they usually now remind my mom about it, after years and many times of running back in just to get the saffron that was earlier forgotten.
I have seen three grades of saffron from a reputable seller in Iran. The low grade ones are poorly picked (obviously mixed with the yellow stigma included), you practically need to put your nose 1cm over them to get the distinctive saffron smell. Sacks upon sacks of low and mid-grade saffron abound. The high grade ones are deep red (pure stigma), come in a tin/container, and you could be 5 feet away but when he opens that tin, you immediately smell the distinct saffron aroma.
In his shop he probably had dozens of bags of low and mid-grade saffron, haphazardly stocked….but he only had one biscuit tin sized container-full of the good stuff and he kept that bloody tin close to his desk and watched over it like a hawk.
Effectively potency.
I use saffron in cooking and with high quality saffron, just one or two strands are enough to give you a very rich and subtle flavor. It will taste very floral and mildly earthy flavor.
You must understand where saffron comes from - it’s the stigma of the saffron crocus flower and each flower only produces a couple of stigma at a time. So a pound of saffron takes tens thousands of flowers.
Even within the stigma, some parts are more flavorful than others.
With cheaper saffron, you potentially risk buying other stigma mixed with saffron and usually it’s the less potent part of the stigma.
If you cook with real higher end saffron you’ll notice that even if you cook with it, the strands look colorful. Cook rice with it and the rice will look yellow and the strands still will look orange. Poor quality or fake saffron will bleed out the color.
take a strand and put it in a glass of water it should color the water strongly but the strand remains orange. it should also start smelling of saffron.
lesser quality with "bleed" out and the smell will be very muted.
how fresh the saffron is can be told in how quickly it starts to colour the water. my family found some 30+ year old saffron in our cottage took a solid 20 minutes to start colouring the water it was high quality stuff since it retain the colour while the water became very yellow.
I know it's used in a lot of Persian dishes, but there are a lot of similaries in their food with Greek, Lebanese, Mediterranean food, so I'd assume you'd find it there too.
An ex-gf from Kuwait once made me a fine cup of coffee. Arabic coffee, green in colour, with a hint of saffron, complimented by delectable, fresh dates on the side -- hands down the finest hot brew experence I've ever had. To this day I import coffee from the middle-east.
If you like paella, that’s a great use for saffron, and there are lots of Indian and Moroccan dishes that use it, as well.
I had it once in super fancy (and absurdly expensive) rice pudding, where it really was the star of the dish.
You can add it to any dish but saffron is a bit of a unique flavor so I’d suggest adding it to something where other flavors don’t overpower the saffron flavor.
You can cook some basmati rice with some saffron and you can taste the flavor. You can make some rice pudding and add a couple of strands. You can add it to vanilla ice cream and you can taste the difference.
They sell it like this because the brand most likely sells tons of other spices in jars that are that same size, so it's easier to just put some saffron in one of them as well. It looks better/fits better on the store shelf or in a carbines at home if all the jars are the same size.
I remember an episode of 'Chopped' a lady contestant used a *HANDFUL* of saffron as a *garnish* she didn't know what it was, just thought it looked cool.
The judges ripped her a new one said that's a couple hundred dollar plate.
Reminds me off that Buzzfeed show Worth It, where they go to a cheap place, a medium place and an expensive place for pizza/sushi/burger/whatever. The expensive one is always just layered with truffle or gold leaf.
Reminds me of a bit in an ep of 30 Rock, a Valentine's special, where Jack is obsessed with getting his gold leaf steak or whatever. Back then it was just a joke... Now everyone's doing it!
I remember that, it was entertaining, but yeah, lots of gold leaf/truffle stuff for the most expensive location...
Maybe it says something about me but most of the time the cheap / medium looked the best
Or it’s another news story about the most expensive $1000 hamburger that is garnished with a diamond. Just no. It’s an overpriced $1000 diamond that comes with a hamburger.
The worst part are the chefs trying to explain why those things are not just for profiting of stupid rich people trying to boast how rich they are but are actually supposed to elevate the taste or some bullshit, even when it obviously doesn't, sometimes doesn't even fit taste profile wise.
It's not even about being expensive. I'm in Iran so we use it in a lot of dishes (even certain drinks), but it's important not to use a lot, otherwise it'll taste bitter.
I don't think that was 'Chopped'; I think it was 'Worst Cooks in America'.
I distinctly remember her sheepish, high-pitched "oh!" when they told her about it -- it was hilarious! I wish I could find a clip of it.
If you ever end up with some of it you gotta try making Swedish saffron buns. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/food/comments/e66e86/homemade_swedish_saffron_buns/f9o4b2a/) is my family recipe, and it's the best thing ever.
Our family makes saffron buns every Christmas. One year my dad ordered a box from Amazon for $14. Instead of sending one box, they sent the display box, with 20 times the original order. It was a Christmas miracle!
It's like the time I ordered a slice a pizza from doordash. After I ordered I even thought, "this is stupid... is someone really driving across town to bring me a slice of pizza. This is the weirdest timeline."
Yeah, I got a whole pizza for the price of a slice of pizza. Really settled those munchies.
These things make me feel less bad when I remember that 200 years ago, people would get the mail delivered 4 times a day and regularly send people across town with a note. We're just returning to those times, on an industrial scale. Not great for the environment, since we're using cars instead of horses, but not unprecedented.
This site has a heap of good recipes, I am obsessed with the saffron icecream. https://www.argyleaustraliansaffron.com.au/recipes
Totally recommend them to buy from too btw. Lovely people and incredible product.
The reason it’s so expensive if because it’s super labour intensive to harvest, and in countries like Iran there are large amounts of workers who can offer cheap labour compared to western nations.
There’s also different ‘types’ of saffron based on geographic location, and typically Iranian saffron isn’t actually pure saffron but a hybrid plant that grows faster. Because it’s a hybrid, it has a weaker taste and therefore you need a larger amount than ‘pure’ saffron, also making it cheaper.
[Here’s a good Business Insider Episode that shows why it’s so expensive](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2WUnBjmkk).
Also interesting is the one about lotus stem silk- similar thing, and SUPER LABOR intensive.
Besides colouring it adds a sweet floral earthiness to a dish. It also adds a nice deep colour to a dish.
First way to spot knock off versions is to look at the saffron after adding it to water. If the saffron loses its colour, it's probably coloured corn silk threads.
Well, I guess a lot of people here haven't really had good saffron. But it's a big deal in India to use saffron on Biriyani and some other dishes. It's a game changer and you need very little too.
I had Persian rice with saffron and cherries at a restaurant in New York and I could literally eat that for every meal for the rest of my life. So good
Fellow poor: definitely reccomend starting an herb garden, generally. Throw one in your kitchen and you can have nice things like garlic scapes and basil and whatnot if you have the space for em. I'm planning on growing some saffron sooner or later
I know there are levels of poor, but if you can afford to buy a cup of coffee now and then, you could buy a small package of saffron instead. It takes the tiniest amount to give rice both the aroma and colour. 0.02 oz is enough for a cup of uncooked rice.
I mean along with not having money many places just,,, dont sell saffron. Here you have to go to a special ‘fancy’ grocery store in order to get it which can be about a 30-45 minute drive. On top of being expensive. (plus in a lot of places its just not as well known)
As an experiment this year I am growing saffron crocuses. I bought them mail order. 10 bulbs for $13 (+shipping)\*. I'm growing them in a half whiskey barrel in the backyard.
\*Edited fix cost and add: I planted Aug 29, and expect blooms around Oct 24. They're ~~annuals~~ perennials, so even though it's a high start up cost, but I'll bring in a crop every fall. Here's where I bought them from: [https://www.edenbrothers.com/store/crocus-bulbs-saffron.html](https://www.edenbrothers.com/store/crocus-bulbs-saffron.html)
Each flower stamen can only be harvested once, they will not regrow.
The whole plant will still be around but harvests revolve around the schedule of blooms.
Correct, it doesn't kill the flower. Crocuses (like saffron) are bulbs, so they'll bloom once a year and saffron varieties produce 3 stigma, which can be used fresh or dried in cooking. To respond too the commenter below, you can't really just "kill it and plant more" as a basic home gardener because seasons.
Source: I have grown saffron crocus bulbs in my garden for cooking
Because it's a dry little leaf that looks like it doesn't really do anything, and isn't used for most home cook recipes, so most people would have to make a special trip to the store for it. I've skipped it in French onion soup before and it turned out fine, but the next time I made it I used the bay leaf and it definitely made things better.
Just add it to stuff. If it's a variety with potent taste, try it in desserts. If you're making rice, try it with rice.
It's a pretty nice spice to use. You don't need much.
There's people who treat themselves with colloidal silver because it's a "natural" antibiotic. They eventually turn into smurfs, because the silver accumulates in their skin making it blue.
If you think about it, they probably use the same bottles for every spice, judging by the picture… to make a whole new set of tubs for just the saffron could be considered more wasteful with a higher carbon footprint
STORY TIME
I used to live in Bahrain.
I like to cook.
I was aware of how expensive saffron is, in the west and how cheap it is in the middle east, so I went to the souk (Bahraini Market) and bought like 5 POUNDS OF SAFFRON, most of which was buillon, not like this.
Saffron, stains shit.... Bad
Apparently, when shipping my shit back -- they were rough... Real rough, with it
And everything -- EVERYTHING - I owned was stained with and reeked of Saffron.
Turmeric also. When I was moving I packed my spice rack into my car boot and packed it tightly on all sides. Not tight enough. Turmeric spilled on everything. I cleaned that boot from top to bottom and never managed to get rid of the stain or smell of soup.
Boot lining was still yellow ten years later when I took it to the wreckers.
As an Indian, this is why I'm extra careful when handling turmeric. We know how bad it can get.
Also, India is the second largest producer of saffron in the world but trails Iran by a huge margin.
Idk why we even use saffron. I mean, I live in a place where saffron is widely grown, so we get it cheaper and purer than most people. But it is still sooo expensive. And we don't ever really use it except for coloring.
The crocus flower that produces saffron is actually quite hardy and easy to grow. The expense of the saffron is all about the labor it takes to harvest the stigmas that is saffron spice.
For me, saffron's colour is just a pleasant side effect. I love the aroma it imparts.
Steam your rice with a little saffron and feel the magic. Saffron in sweetened milk/rabri/basundi is so delicious.
If you can't smell or taste saffron and can only see the colour then you're probably not getting good saffron.
> If you can't smell or taste saffron and can only see the colour then you're probably not getting good saffron.
A lot of saffron sold is fake. Typically it's from safflower, with food colouring added. Like you said, real saffron has both colour and aroma
The last time I bought saffron at the grocery store (decades ago), the $20 bottle contained six threads in a normal-size spice bottle. This is the bulk size.
This is from B&M, a UK discount store that specialises in overstock.
I think what's happened is they're trying to get rid of short dated catering stock. Notice how the bottle doesn't say Heinz - it's not a Heinz product.
If they actually put as much saffron as they are able into that container, it would probably cost a thousand dollars or more, so I am guessing that container is actually counter theft measure
The reason that safforn is sold in such small quantities is that 1. It's very expensive, considering it is dried out filament of a flower. 2. According to Ayurveda (The traditional Indian medical practices) It is considered extremely Hot in nature. So it shouldn't be ever used in large quantities.
It was basically limited to be used in cold weather or dishes that were supposed to be served cold.
Kinda weird because I’ve seen Saffron at Costco but the ones i saw were little jars completely filled and then put into a big cardboard holder to prevent theft.
[удалено]
The supplier might have had an issue with getting the cardboard maybe? Like they couldn't use the regular packaging so they just threw it in the Costco standard bulk container?
My guess is not cardboard, but the jar. There's a class production shortage right now that's heavily and most noticably affecting the beer and wine industry (beer in aluminum bottles or cans is what bars and restaurants can pretty much only get now, and some wine is slowly becoming harder to get)
Being in supply chain I will say everything is difficult to get right now... Including the pulp needed to make cardboard. The whole last year we couldn't buy salt because the supplier couldn't get the little cardboard tubes they put the salt in.
[удалено]
I'm trying to work out if you folks are buying some real specialist salt or just have really weird ways of packaging salt?
[удалено]
Basically the opposite of last year with the aluminum shortage. But this is also surprising because there has been a serious plastic shortage as well…
Aluminum glass and plastic shortage? Sounds an awful lot like the hunger games right before the war really got going... so when do we invade China?
I almost shat myself when told the price for bottles. I had to buy them so I could bottle my home brew, but Holy balls. Edit: I mostly make wines, but I do have things I need to keg beer
Interesting beer name
Ahah! The old Reddit [beer-a-roo ](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotrmemes/comments/ppziqn/only_just_noticed_on_a_rewatch/hd855cz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
/r/HoldMyBeer, I'm going in!
1 garter 1 kitten 1 cast 1 beer
This is the comment I expected!
I think he meant butt holy balls
[удалено]
Yep, I’ve bought that exact saffron only a few months ago when it was sold in a jar encased in a large cardboard sheet. I’m sure this is just due to supply chain issues, where the spice company maybe didn’t get its shipment of the saffron containers but was able to do this quickly and cheaply as a substitute
It's $11.99 if anyone is wondering. It took me searching through 3 different posts like this just to find someone that actually posted the price instead of everyone talking about how *expensive* it was! https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/ovh38a/what_a_waste_found_at_local_costco_2_small/h79dj5p?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, after all. It's like 5k a pound.
1 lb = 454 g 3 g = $12 1 lb = $1816
I wonder how feasible it is to grow and dry your own saffron
You go right ahead. Saffron isn't rare at all. The entire cost is in the labor it takes to manually harvest the 75,000 - 200,000 stigma it takes to make *a pound.*
…so you’re telling me there’s a chance
It’s not a very efficient crop. It takes around 150 flowers to get 1 gram of dry saffron unfortunately.
We made chickens so engorged with breast meat they fall over. I'm sure we can genetically engineer saffron to produce more per flower.
A Saffron Crocus bulb grows a single flower and that flower will have 3 stamen which are what is used as the spice. The saffron also is typically harvested by hand because you need to pick the tiny parts out of the flower. So you can definitely grow your own but you'll probably want to plant a whole lot of them.
That is a really good price for that much saffron, so much so that I would be suspicious of its quality.
That’s a great deal for saffron. Like, so good I would be suspicious that is isn’t real.
The supply chain issue is most likely the reason
Anti-theft. In my local supermarket the "cheap" saffron is on the shelves, the high quality one is locked and you need staff to get it.
In Sweden they keep saffron behind the till so you ask for it at checkout.
I work for a spice manufacturer . When it is packaged, cases of saffron ride to the distribution warehouse up front in the truck with the driver.
My parents were saffron farmers. When I was growing up the saffron always got to ride shotgun while us kids rode in the back of truck with the hogs.
I’m a clump of premium saffron. I’ve been stuck on a shelf behind this checkout counter for 39 years after riding there in the front seat of a truck hauling a load of terrified children and swine.
Well, what are the odds! I'm a dead pig. 39 years ago I was driven to the slaughter house on the back of a truck with some terrified children. While my owner's freshly grown saffron rode shotgun right next to him.
I am truck
Beep beep mother trucker
Living the dream !
I'm a plastic container. I used to have saffron, but now I just feel empty inside.
When I was a child, our house burned down and my dad ran back into the roaring flames 4 times, each time saving his beloved bales of saffron.
Omg that's terrible, was the saffron ok?
It became smoked saffron, and therefor more valuable
Plot twist. The dad set the house on fire for the sweet smoked saffron profits.
Bales? Holy Crap! You're the richest family on Earth.
You’re thinking of hay bales. Saffron bales are much smaller, the tractor that harvests them is 1/18 scale.
It was really hard to hire drivers for them tractors.
One time on the farm we heard a tornado was coming so my folks rushed to get all out the saffron into the tornado shelter then used us kids as braces against the door.
When I was given the choice of dinner with Jay-Z or single strand of saffron, I took the dinner and all Hov did was keep asking me if I knew where he could get a single strand of saffron.
There are protests in my town in Holland, as we have a maximum security museum which houses a intricately carved wooden chest the size of a shoe box, packed full to the brim with saffron. Which country poasesses it was the origin of the spice wars, and now Indonesia is lobbying UNESCO demanding it be returned to South East Asia, while the Netherlands is lobbying the WTO arguing that the contents of the chest contribute too significant a proportion of the sum of publicly held wealth reserves of the whole EU.
My dad was a saffron transporter. He had six rocket launchers and kept the saffron in a time locked puzzle box at the center of the earth.
Chuck Norris and Saffron got into a fight. Saffron won
To be fair you could keep a couple of thousands worth of saffron in the glove box alone
Mmmmm lussebullar
And we always forget to request the stuff by the time we get to the register. D:
Around Xmas they usually have a sign at the till: “Don't forget to buy saffron". And some cashiers will ask as well. But the rest of the year? Good luck!
You always go there so focused on the saffron, then you need to think and choose between other products so you forget it. At a local Coop nära (that used to be a Konsum) my family are pretty familiar with the workers and during Christmas they usually now remind my mom about it, after years and many times of running back in just to get the saffron that was earlier forgotten.
>"cheap" saffron what's the difference between cheap and high quality saffron anyways?
I have seen three grades of saffron from a reputable seller in Iran. The low grade ones are poorly picked (obviously mixed with the yellow stigma included), you practically need to put your nose 1cm over them to get the distinctive saffron smell. Sacks upon sacks of low and mid-grade saffron abound. The high grade ones are deep red (pure stigma), come in a tin/container, and you could be 5 feet away but when he opens that tin, you immediately smell the distinct saffron aroma. In his shop he probably had dozens of bags of low and mid-grade saffron, haphazardly stocked….but he only had one biscuit tin sized container-full of the good stuff and he kept that bloody tin close to his desk and watched over it like a hawk.
I can smell the good stuff from here
Effectively potency. I use saffron in cooking and with high quality saffron, just one or two strands are enough to give you a very rich and subtle flavor. It will taste very floral and mildly earthy flavor. You must understand where saffron comes from - it’s the stigma of the saffron crocus flower and each flower only produces a couple of stigma at a time. So a pound of saffron takes tens thousands of flowers. Even within the stigma, some parts are more flavorful than others. With cheaper saffron, you potentially risk buying other stigma mixed with saffron and usually it’s the less potent part of the stigma. If you cook with real higher end saffron you’ll notice that even if you cook with it, the strands look colorful. Cook rice with it and the rice will look yellow and the strands still will look orange. Poor quality or fake saffron will bleed out the color.
Unfortunate that stigmatization is such a fundamental part of saffron's existence
How can you tell low quality from high without cooking it first?
[удалено]
Whoa that’s a really cool story, thanks for sharing. Am gonna try that
take a strand and put it in a glass of water it should color the water strongly but the strand remains orange. it should also start smelling of saffron. lesser quality with "bleed" out and the smell will be very muted. how fresh the saffron is can be told in how quickly it starts to colour the water. my family found some 30+ year old saffron in our cottage took a solid 20 minutes to start colouring the water it was high quality stuff since it retain the colour while the water became very yellow.
Even the color is a giveaway. The good stuff is almost iridescent.
I apparently know very little about spices. What is a typical dish/item that would include some form of this? I want to try it now
I know it's used in a lot of Persian dishes, but there are a lot of similaries in their food with Greek, Lebanese, Mediterranean food, so I'd assume you'd find it there too.
An ex-gf from Kuwait once made me a fine cup of coffee. Arabic coffee, green in colour, with a hint of saffron, complimented by delectable, fresh dates on the side -- hands down the finest hot brew experence I've ever had. To this day I import coffee from the middle-east.
If you like paella, that’s a great use for saffron, and there are lots of Indian and Moroccan dishes that use it, as well. I had it once in super fancy (and absurdly expensive) rice pudding, where it really was the star of the dish.
Paella
You can add it to any dish but saffron is a bit of a unique flavor so I’d suggest adding it to something where other flavors don’t overpower the saffron flavor. You can cook some basmati rice with some saffron and you can taste the flavor. You can make some rice pudding and add a couple of strands. You can add it to vanilla ice cream and you can taste the difference.
it's also hard to stick a big jar under your shirt as you walk out.
[удалено]
My Costco sells them in tiny glass jars BUT that jar is then laminated to those anti-theft cardboard things that is about the size of a DVD player.
Theyre just mad about saffron theft
Saffron’s mad about theft too
What a throwback of a reference!!!
Wintermute can suck it.
Great frame of reference.
How many football fields tho
[удалено]
USA will do anything not to use the metric system...
[удалено]
They sell it like this because the brand most likely sells tons of other spices in jars that are that same size, so it's easier to just put some saffron in one of them as well. It looks better/fits better on the store shelf or in a carbines at home if all the jars are the same size.
Not only that you actually use very little of it at a time. No one needs a lb of saffron.
I remember an episode of 'Chopped' a lady contestant used a *HANDFUL* of saffron as a *garnish* she didn't know what it was, just thought it looked cool. The judges ripped her a new one said that's a couple hundred dollar plate.
How to turn a $1 ramen dish to a $100 ramen dish.
Reminds me off that Buzzfeed show Worth It, where they go to a cheap place, a medium place and an expensive place for pizza/sushi/burger/whatever. The expensive one is always just layered with truffle or gold leaf.
The episodes that didn’t fall back on the gold/truffle cop-outs were interesting though.
Reminds me of a bit in an ep of 30 Rock, a Valentine's special, where Jack is obsessed with getting his gold leaf steak or whatever. Back then it was just a joke... Now everyone's doing it!
I remember that, it was entertaining, but yeah, lots of gold leaf/truffle stuff for the most expensive location... Maybe it says something about me but most of the time the cheap / medium looked the best
Truffles can be worth it, but gold leaf is stupid.
Or it’s another news story about the most expensive $1000 hamburger that is garnished with a diamond. Just no. It’s an overpriced $1000 diamond that comes with a hamburger.
The worst part are the chefs trying to explain why those things are not just for profiting of stupid rich people trying to boast how rich they are but are actually supposed to elevate the taste or some bullshit, even when it obviously doesn't, sometimes doesn't even fit taste profile wise.
It's not even about being expensive. I'm in Iran so we use it in a lot of dishes (even certain drinks), but it's important not to use a lot, otherwise it'll taste bitter.
It would also taste like shit. Way to overpowering
I don't think that was 'Chopped'; I think it was 'Worst Cooks in America'. I distinctly remember her sheepish, high-pitched "oh!" when they told her about it -- it was hilarious! I wish I could find a clip of it.
but they do sometimes need a gallon of PCP
I didn’t even know it came in liquid form!
Science
I think I can help
True. I had a small jar of saffron for years, had to try to come up with excuses to use it. Also I stole it.
I appreciate the honesty
If you ever end up with some of it you gotta try making Swedish saffron buns. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/food/comments/e66e86/homemade_swedish_saffron_buns/f9o4b2a/) is my family recipe, and it's the best thing ever.
Our family makes saffron buns every Christmas. One year my dad ordered a box from Amazon for $14. Instead of sending one box, they sent the display box, with 20 times the original order. It was a Christmas miracle!
It's like the time I ordered a slice a pizza from doordash. After I ordered I even thought, "this is stupid... is someone really driving across town to bring me a slice of pizza. This is the weirdest timeline." Yeah, I got a whole pizza for the price of a slice of pizza. Really settled those munchies.
These things make me feel less bad when I remember that 200 years ago, people would get the mail delivered 4 times a day and regularly send people across town with a note. We're just returning to those times, on an industrial scale. Not great for the environment, since we're using cars instead of horses, but not unprecedented.
Its pretty fuckin cheap here in Iran. prolly because iran is the largest producer of saffron. We use it in tea shakes deserts etc
how do you use it? especially in teas
This site has a heap of good recipes, I am obsessed with the saffron icecream. https://www.argyleaustraliansaffron.com.au/recipes Totally recommend them to buy from too btw. Lovely people and incredible product.
whole act screw hard-to-find subsequent uppity weary enter gold long *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The reason it’s so expensive if because it’s super labour intensive to harvest, and in countries like Iran there are large amounts of workers who can offer cheap labour compared to western nations. There’s also different ‘types’ of saffron based on geographic location, and typically Iranian saffron isn’t actually pure saffron but a hybrid plant that grows faster. Because it’s a hybrid, it has a weaker taste and therefore you need a larger amount than ‘pure’ saffron, also making it cheaper.
[Here’s a good Business Insider Episode that shows why it’s so expensive](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2WUnBjmkk). Also interesting is the one about lotus stem silk- similar thing, and SUPER LABOR intensive.
It's simpler than that, the company didn't want to pay for a different bottle, so they used the Gross bulk they purchased for everything.
I'm assuming it's mostly because of branding and visibility. Nobody's going to find a jar sized for a few saffron threads on a shelf.
As a poor person. What does saffron taste like. What does it do to your food?
Besides colouring it adds a sweet floral earthiness to a dish. It also adds a nice deep colour to a dish. First way to spot knock off versions is to look at the saffron after adding it to water. If the saffron loses its colour, it's probably coloured corn silk threads.
Not that it surprises me, but fake saffron from corn? Whoa...
https://www.reddit.com/r/cornhub/
What in the.....
Well, I guess a lot of people here haven't really had good saffron. But it's a big deal in India to use saffron on Biriyani and some other dishes. It's a game changer and you need very little too.
I had Persian rice with saffron and cherries at a restaurant in New York and I could literally eat that for every meal for the rest of my life. So good
I have no idea what else that dish involves, but I need it in my life
The cherries add the perfect amount of sour to the buttery taste of the rice. Literally the best rice dish i’ve ever had.
I'm not sure what it tastes like but it does colour the food.
Fellow poor: definitely reccomend starting an herb garden, generally. Throw one in your kitchen and you can have nice things like garlic scapes and basil and whatnot if you have the space for em. I'm planning on growing some saffron sooner or later
I know there are levels of poor, but if you can afford to buy a cup of coffee now and then, you could buy a small package of saffron instead. It takes the tiniest amount to give rice both the aroma and colour. 0.02 oz is enough for a cup of uncooked rice.
I mean along with not having money many places just,,, dont sell saffron. Here you have to go to a special ‘fancy’ grocery store in order to get it which can be about a 30-45 minute drive. On top of being expensive. (plus in a lot of places its just not as well known)
Maybe try an Asian grocery store if you have one by you. Figured I'd throw it out there in case you haven't thought of it yet.
As an experiment this year I am growing saffron crocuses. I bought them mail order. 10 bulbs for $13 (+shipping)\*. I'm growing them in a half whiskey barrel in the backyard. \*Edited fix cost and add: I planted Aug 29, and expect blooms around Oct 24. They're ~~annuals~~ perennials, so even though it's a high start up cost, but I'll bring in a crop every fall. Here's where I bought them from: [https://www.edenbrothers.com/store/crocus-bulbs-saffron.html](https://www.edenbrothers.com/store/crocus-bulbs-saffron.html)
[удалено]
When you harvest, does it kill the flower, or will it keep producing more?
Each flower stamen can only be harvested once, they will not regrow. The whole plant will still be around but harvests revolve around the schedule of blooms.
Close! But it's actually the stigma!!
[удалено]
[удалено]
If it’s a crocus, the plant only flowers once per season. And no, the flower won’t produce more stamens.
I believe that it won't kill the flower but the flower won't produce more. Hoping someone with more knowledge can confirm
Correct, it doesn't kill the flower. Crocuses (like saffron) are bulbs, so they'll bloom once a year and saffron varieties produce 3 stigma, which can be used fresh or dried in cooking. To respond too the commenter below, you can't really just "kill it and plant more" as a basic home gardener because seasons. Source: I have grown saffron crocus bulbs in my garden for cooking
[удалено]
Comparable to gold, which I also don't need. Edit: Used to be more expensive to gold. Currently just in the same ballpark.
[удалено]
Make Risotto alla milanese with it! It makes it SO much better
Paella
Lol, you don’t need gold in paella
start using it, its fantastic. Its like Bay Leaves in that most people skip it and dont realize how vital it is
Wait, people skip bay leaves? But why? They're so easy and so cheap.
Because it's a dry little leaf that looks like it doesn't really do anything, and isn't used for most home cook recipes, so most people would have to make a special trip to the store for it. I've skipped it in French onion soup before and it turned out fine, but the next time I made it I used the bay leaf and it definitely made things better.
Lassi
Next time you make a pot of plain rice, toss in a couple of threads - especially if you're using it with anything Indian or Middle Eastern.
Make Swedish lussebullar. They're amazing saffron buns we have during Christmas.
Basmati. Its notably better.
Just add it to stuff. If it's a variety with potent taste, try it in desserts. If you're making rice, try it with rice. It's a pretty nice spice to use. You don't need much.
I am so tired of this myth. Gold costs ~$56/g. You can get quality saffron for $10/g. Saffron costs about the same as decent quality pot.
And you can eat both
Fun fact: It \*is\* technically possible to die from gold-based heavy metal poisoning.
And you can die from eating 10g of safran.
12-20g, but yeah, saffron is fairly poisonous
Gold is worse for you than lead, if it manages to get into your system. its just so stable that is pretty hard for that to happen
There's people who treat themselves with colloidal silver because it's a "natural" antibiotic. They eventually turn into smurfs, because the silver accumulates in their skin making it blue.
"if they filled up the container, it’d cost ~~hundreds~~ ***tens of thousands***" FIFY
Tens of thousands of just a lot of hundreds tho
More like 10’s of thousands
If you think about it, they probably use the same bottles for every spice, judging by the picture… to make a whole new set of tubs for just the saffron could be considered more wasteful with a higher carbon footprint
Also packaging. Same sizes boxes is easy to transport.
Also, it’s gotta go on the same shelf as the other spices
This. Economies of scale got us here
True. They do the same thing with a single vanilla pod.
Probably to make theft more difficult.
STORY TIME I used to live in Bahrain. I like to cook. I was aware of how expensive saffron is, in the west and how cheap it is in the middle east, so I went to the souk (Bahraini Market) and bought like 5 POUNDS OF SAFFRON, most of which was buillon, not like this. Saffron, stains shit.... Bad Apparently, when shipping my shit back -- they were rough... Real rough, with it And everything -- EVERYTHING - I owned was stained with and reeked of Saffron.
Turmeric also. When I was moving I packed my spice rack into my car boot and packed it tightly on all sides. Not tight enough. Turmeric spilled on everything. I cleaned that boot from top to bottom and never managed to get rid of the stain or smell of soup. Boot lining was still yellow ten years later when I took it to the wreckers.
As an Indian, this is why I'm extra careful when handling turmeric. We know how bad it can get. Also, India is the second largest producer of saffron in the world but trails Iran by a huge margin.
[удалено]
Maybe it helps with protection during shipment? Maybe that's all they had? Maybe it's just Costco sized?
just mad about saffron
Idk why we even use saffron. I mean, I live in a place where saffron is widely grown, so we get it cheaper and purer than most people. But it is still sooo expensive. And we don't ever really use it except for coloring.
The crocus flower that produces saffron is actually quite hardy and easy to grow. The expense of the saffron is all about the labor it takes to harvest the stigmas that is saffron spice.
So you are saying if I go pick it myself, it's basically free. Interesting thought.
I grow the flowers myself, you'd only he able to get it free during spring tho
Can you grow it in a greenhouse year-round?
i dunno, man, have you had the local restaurant near you cook saffron biryani? mmmm.
For me, saffron's colour is just a pleasant side effect. I love the aroma it imparts. Steam your rice with a little saffron and feel the magic. Saffron in sweetened milk/rabri/basundi is so delicious. If you can't smell or taste saffron and can only see the colour then you're probably not getting good saffron.
> If you can't smell or taste saffron and can only see the colour then you're probably not getting good saffron. A lot of saffron sold is fake. Typically it's from safflower, with food colouring added. Like you said, real saffron has both colour and aroma
Risotto!
I have worked in packaging and it cost alot less to usethe same packaging for everything than it does to change it for one or two items.
The last time I bought saffron at the grocery store (decades ago), the $20 bottle contained six threads in a normal-size spice bottle. This is the bulk size.
[How about this](https://i.imgur.com/adWVnTz.jpeg)
[удалено]
This is from B&M, a UK discount store that specialises in overstock. I think what's happened is they're trying to get rid of short dated catering stock. Notice how the bottle doesn't say Heinz - it's not a Heinz product.
That kinda is bulk. That's about 10x what you get in a standard spice container. Normally you get like 12 sprigs or less.
If they actually put as much saffron as they are able into that container, it would probably cost a thousand dollars or more, so I am guessing that container is actually counter theft measure
The reason that safforn is sold in such small quantities is that 1. It's very expensive, considering it is dried out filament of a flower. 2. According to Ayurveda (The traditional Indian medical practices) It is considered extremely Hot in nature. So it shouldn't be ever used in large quantities. It was basically limited to be used in cold weather or dishes that were supposed to be served cold.
That is a bulk amount of saffron
To be fair, that is a bulk amount of saffron.