Saffron

Saffron is the most expensive, finest, most aromatic, and renowned spice in the world, widely used in cooking, cosmetics, and healthcare. Most sources attribute its origin to Iran, which currently harvests over 99% of the world’s saffron. Iran is the largest exporter of saffron, while China is the largest importer.

The unique aroma, flavor, and vibrant yellow color of saffron come from compounds such as safranal (responsible for its fragrance) and crocin (responsible for its color). Advanced techniques like mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are used to detect counterfeit saffron.

Key Components of Saffron:

• Crocin: Provides the vibrant color.
• Picrocrocin: Responsible for the bitter taste.
• Safranal: Gives saffron its distinct aroma.
• Lycopene: A carotenoid also found in tomatoes.
• Beta-carotenes: Carotenoids also present in carrots.

Characteristics

Saffron is a small, perennial plant, growing 10 to 30 cm tall. It has narrow, long leaves and produces one to three flowers per stem. The flowers have six purple petals (sometimes pink or lilac), three stamens, and a three-branched red-orange stigma. The stigma and style are the parts used as saffron, known for their fragrance and slightly bitter taste.

Sargol Saffron

• Completely red with no white parts.
• The stigmas are separated from each other.
• Higher quality than “Pushal” saffron and suitable for export. Sargol saffron is the most common type of saffron and most customers are familiar with this type of saffron. It is also considered one of the highest quality types of saffron.

Sargol saffron is actually what most people think of saffron. Other names for this type of saffron include Mumtaz saffron, Mumtaz Qaenat saffron, Sar-Risa saffron, and Sar-Qalam saffron. In this type, the cream part (root) is completely removed and the completely red stigmas are separated, forming pure saffron. It is difficult to determine the quality of Sargol, and it is graded by two criteria: “the length of the stigma” and “the absence of white pieces mixed with the red color of the seed” and is divided into three grades. So, first-grade Sargol is more expensive than Super Negin, and third-grade Sargol is slightly more expensive than Pushal Qalamdar. Among the types of saffron, the coloring power of Sargol saffron is about 200 to 240 units. Consumption of Sargol saffron is more common than other types.