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/SAFFRON/

/What is Saffron?/

Saffron is a small plant (Crocus sativus) belonging to the Iridaceae family and it is cultivated in Asia and many Mediterranean countries. The name saffron originates from the latin word “safranum” (from the Arabian word zaʻfarān) and it means “yellow”

/Botanical/

Saffron is obtained from a small plant (Crocus sativus) of the iridaceae family.

By Saffron (from the Arabic zafran) we mean only a small part of it: the flowers of the Crocus in fact have a red stigma in the center divided into three filaments about 3 cm long and this is the Saffron that is used in culinary preparations.

/History/

Saffron has been known since ancient times: it originated in Asia but Homer and Virgil already spoke of it in their works, showing their knowledge of its use in cooking as well as a colorant.

Saffron arrived in Italy from Spain thanks to the Dominican priest Santucci (originally from Abruzzo and with a passion for botany and agriculture): after identifying the right type of soil, he tried to grow the Crocus by planting the bulbs.

The experiment was successful and the quality excellent, so much so that it soon spread throughout the rest of Abruzzo. Soon a flourishing commerce in saffron began (supported by levels of production which reached up to 4,00 tons) with the main European markets which greatly appreciated the flavor of the Saffron.

Today Saffron is produced in only a few areas of central-southern Italy, including Tuscany; it’s a plant which is quite resistant to cold and is grown in hilly places up to 800 meters altitude.

/Made with Saffron/

more than 10,000 people have already bought Pruneti

/Processing/

The harvest begins towards the end of October and ends with the end of November.

The flowers are picked early in the morning so as not to damage the stigmas.

Then the stigmas themselves are detached and, on sieves, are left to dry in the heat of the selected wood embers

After drying, the whole stigmas are packaged in glass vials to keep their characteristics intact.

A quarter gram vial contains sufficient Saffron for the preparation of recipes for 6/8 people

The production of stigmas reaches up to 10-15 kg per hectare, and more than 50 kg of flowers are needed to obtain a kg of fresh stigmas. After drying, one kg of fresh stigmas will reduce to about 200g.