Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi eu nulla vehicula, sagittis tortor id, fermentum nunc. Donec gravida mi a condimentum rutrum. Praesent aliquet pellentesque nisi.
vino@elated-themes.com
Image thumbnail

Saffron

THE SPICE

Saffron has been known and appreciated by men for millenia. It is most commonly used for its flavour, with tints of honey and bitter notes, but it is often used also for it’s incredible therapeutic properties and for its colour as a dye. Saffron is obtain by cultivating the beautiful Crocus Sativus and by hand picking its flowers and harvesting the delicate red pistils. The pistils are then dried in a delicate process that strongly determines the final taste and quality of the spice. The relationship with this tiny plants requires a constant listening, to them and to ourselves. We always pay close attention to what the plants need and to what our bodies need in the process of taking care of the plants. We believe that this not only improve the quality of our life, but the quality of our spice too!

Learn more about our approach

CULTIVATION

All the phases of our flowers life

the bulbs find their home

PLANTING

During the summer season, usually towards the end of June, the bulbs are planted in the field where they will sprout.

The entire planting operation is conducted by hand. The field will then be kept clean from weeds during the whole life cycle of the crocus sativus.

The saffron fields becomes green

GERMINATION

With the first temperature drop of Autumn, usually around October, the plants start sprouting. The will cover the whole field with thin long green leaves.

The plants are very resistant to low temperature and bad weather conditions. In a season coloured with warm colours, the green of the saffron fields is an highlight in the countryside.

From green to violet

FLOWERING

Between the second half of October and the first half of November, the Crocus Sativus flowers appears from the ground.

The flowers are almost as big as the plants an very gaudy.They usually gather in small groups that dot the saffron patch.

small daily gestures

HARVESTING

The flower must be picked rigorously by hand and the same day they are born. They must be picked before they open to maintain the whole richness of the pistils' fragrance.

The harvesting starts in the first dark hours of the morning and finishes at the first lights of dawn.

a new home for the crocus

BULBS EXTRACTION

At the end of the vegetative phase, the bulbs reabsorb the nutrients they used to grow the plants and generates new bulbs by duplication.

We extract them at the end of this phase, in late spring. We then proceed to plant then again, but in a new field. We will come back to the original field only after at least four years.

BETWEEN HISTORY AND MYTH

Traces of the use of saffron by men are very ancient, dating back to more than 3500 years ago. We can find mentions of the spice in some ancient Egyptian papyrus, as well as in some texts from ancient Greece, most notably the Iliad, and some texts from ancient Rome. We can find some precious evidences of the use of saffron in history of art as well. In the Cnossus fresco (1600 b.C.), visible below, we can see some women harvesting the spice.

According to the Greek ancient mythological tradition, saffron was born from a play accident between Mercury and Croco. The two were playing with a disc, trowing it at each other, when Mercury miscalculated one of his throws and killed his friend, hitting him on the head. Three drops of the blood of Croco fell then on the flower, tinting the pistils red as we know the flower today. The spice is often mentioned in mythological texts, consumed by the gods for his many properties. Hermes was known to use the spice for its aphrodisiac properties. The ruler of the gods, Zeus, used to sleep on a bed made of petals from Crocus Sativus. The spice is also associated with his heroic son Hercules; the red colour of the spice is compared to the colour of the hero’s blood, giving to the spice the name of Blood of Hercules.