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.

Super Negin Saffron

Super Negin saffron has some of the characteristics of Negin saffron, namely, there is no white part at the end, the stigmas are completely red, and the stigmas are not curled or bent. The difference between Super Negin saffron and Negin saffron is the coarseness of the stigmas; the stigmas of Super Negin saffron are coarser than those of Negin saffron, also its stigmas are wide and the color strength of this type of saffron is between 260 and 270. Generally, the process of removing moisture from this type of saffron is done with a saffron dryer to maintain its quality.