In Search of the $10,000 Spice

Yvonne Duivenvoorden / Stockfood Saffron's title of world's most expensive spice is no joke: at thousands of dollars per pound, you could be buying truffles or caviar or gold. And actually, saffron and gold have a lot in common.

Saffron’s title of world’s most expensive spice is no joke: And actually, saffron and gold have a lot in common. They are both beautiful rich colors; throughout history, they’ve been counterfeited uncountable times; and they’re both edible. But saffron’s got things going for it that gold can only imagine, like aroma, paella, and aphrodisiacal effects (though some would argue that gold’s got the sex market cornered). In any event, saffron has held the attention of gods and mortals for about as long as there have been gods and mortals, who are at the core of the saffron creation myth.

There are competing stories about the origins of saffron. The first goes something like this: One day Crocus and his friend, the god Hermes, were hanging out in Ancient Greece, tossing around the discus, when Hermes’ disc hit Crocus in the head and killed him. Three drops of Crocus’ blood spilled on the ground and transformed into a small flower with three shiny red stigmas, and thus the crocus flower from which we get saffron.

Ready for myth No. 2? This story also features Crocus, who falls deeply in love with the woodland nymph Smilax, who unfortunately doesn’t love him back. Tired of being pursued by Crocus, Smilax transforms him into a flower with three bright orange stigmas as a symbol of his undying passion for her. And then she herself becomes a sarsaparilla vine, the reasons of which are unclear.

If you're still doubtful, here is some verifiable, nonmythological information about saffron to help you tell your stamen from your stigma, figure out how to use the stuff, and an explanation of why one such herb may just break your bank.

1.) Why saffron is so damn expensive. Saffron is the dried stigmas (the female reproductive parts) of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). Each crocus flower has three stigmas, and each stigma must be handpicked to maintain the stigma’s integrity. Sounds simple enough. Except that saffron crocuses are only in bloom for one to two weeks in the fall, and the stigmas are so delicate that the crocus flowers must be removed from the plants early in the morning so that the sun and wind of the day won’t damage the stigmas. Then comes the meticulous work of carefully removing the stigmas from the flowers by hand and then drying them, a process in which the saffron will lose up to 80 percent of its original weight. And what do you get for all the hard work?

It takes about 70,000 crocus blossoms or 210,000 stigmas to yield just a pound of saffron. (That’s a football field’s worth of crocuses.) The wholesale price of a pound of saffron can vary from as little as $500 to as much as $5,000, with retail prices anywhere from $5,000 per pound to $10,000 per pound. And this year prices are higher than usual—but don’t blame the economy. “Talking about price today is not talking about price under normal conditions,” says saffron importer Buddy Born of Bacstrom Import Company. “This year is like no other year in my 28-year history of doing this.” Last year, Iran—the world’s largest producer of saffron—was hit with a freeze in the winter and a drought in the summer, creating disastrous conditions for saffron crocuses. “Right off the bat, prices were double,” said Born, “and last year they were already high.” Luckily for consumers, a little saffron goes a long way.