‘Saffron maketh the English Sprightly’
Francis Bacon
ABOUT this time of the year in the arid plains of La Mancha or on the rich soil of Kozani in Western Macedonia, the purple stained fingers of women and young girls will be busy plucking the stigmas from crocus flowers.
This highly labour-intensive task takes place for only 20 days during the year when the flowers come into bloom, so one can imagine the amount of picking and number of workers that have to be called upon day and night to harvest the entire crop of regal purple that makes this most precious of spices.
Then, finger dye changes from deep purple to bright yellow as the task of plucking out the orange stigmas takes place. In the evening, these are then dried and the following morning the entire process begins again.
The saffron filaments or threads are actually the dried stigmas of the flower, and each flower contains only three stigmas, which must be carefully picked from each flower by hand. It requires 75,000 flowers (225,000 stigmas) to produce just one pound of saffron filaments.
Quality saffron is therefore highly prized, but there is also a lucrative market in selling saffron adulterated by the addition of dried calendula, marigold or turmeric, so be careful when buying to ensure you are given the true origin of the product.
The other thing to remember is that in large doses saffron becomes a poison. Nut you don’t really have to worry too much about the lamb biryani served by your host being a touch on the lethal side due to the use of a few more strands of saffron than normal: for a deadly amount you would first have to re-mortgage your house.
Over the centuries, saffron has also been used as a medicine and until the early fifties this pretty coloured seasoning was also used by doctors to help induce a spontaneous miscarriage in rich society women who did not wish to bear children.
The Greeks and Romans used to liberally spread strands of saffron around areas such as public toilets and bath houses, anywhere in fact which required regular olfactory improvement.
The English decided that this particular seasoning was in fact an aphrodisiac, and like everything good in Britain, it was then banned for a time but soon came storming back as “a regular tonic for the nervous system of gentlemen” (euphemism for instant potency).
The other thing to remember is that saffron isn’t something you just liberally tip into a dish: you have to prepare it first, so here is the easiest way to get the very best from this exotic and expensive seasoning. First, when handling saffron, never use a wooden spoon, always metal. Then, for every teaspoon of saffron that you need to use, you must add three teaspoons of water; using a metal spoon, make sure the saffron threads get properly soaked, but also make sure you don’t crush or damage the threads.
Add the mixture into a tumbler containing 30-50ml of lukewarm water and mix thoroughly, leave the saffron in the tumbler for a minimum of two hours.
Prepare your recipe and then add the contents of the tumbler along with the saffron threads required. Note: the threads will expand to one and a half times their dry size.
Best Recipe for a Lamb Biryani (thanks to Nasreen Batrachyria, London)
Ingredients
250g/8oz basmati rice rinsed, soaked in cold water for 30 mins.
½ tsp salt
2 garlic cloves peeled
2cm piece of ginger root grated
½ tsp black peppercorns
2 green cardamom pods
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
2 cm piece of cinnamon stick
1 tsp saffron strands
80ml /2fl oz tepid water
2 tbsp ghee
2 shallots sliced
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
¼ tsp chilli powder
500g boneless lamb cubed
180ml/6fl oz natural yogurt
30g/1oz sultanas
30g/1oz flaked almonds toasted
For the yogurt dressing
150ml strained thick yogurt
5cm piece of grated cucumber
2tbsp chopped mint
½ toasted cumin seeds (optional)
Method
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil.
Add the rice and boil for 6 minutes, drain and set aside.
Grind together the garlic, ginger, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom, cumin and coriander.
Prepare the saffron in water as instructed.
Heat the ghee and add shallots, fry until golden
Add the ground spice mix, and nutmeg and chilli powder.
Stir for a minute then add the lamb, cook until evenly brown.
Add the yoghurt, stirring all the time, then the sultanas and bring to a simmer. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pile the rice on the sauce in a pyramid and trickle the saffron over the rice in lines.
Cover the pan with a clean tea towel and put on lid
Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 mins.
Remove lid and tea towel and make three holes in the rice but don’t actually touch the sauce. Replace the tea towel and lid and leave to stand for five minutes, then serve.
Tried Saffron ice cubes?
This is a really neat idea, one that effectively gives a super kick to long summer drinks such as Planters’ punch, Pims and Martinis, you can also ‘cube it’ by dropping a couple into your chilled gazpacho soup just before serving.
Place a large pinch of saffron strands in a jug of 150ml boiling water. Leave to infuse, and then cool before pouring into an ice tray, making sure each cube has orange liquid with saffron strands suspended, now freeze.
