Simply saffron
Bhaskar Gupta

HAVING the ever delicious kheer the other day, I couldn’t help admiring the taste and flavour imparted to it by those tiny yellow petals of saffron. Suddenly it dawned on me that this vital ingredient of many a Navratan Pulao or Mutton Roganjosh or Machhi Nawabi has perhaps as chequered a history as the Indian civilisation itself.

One of the most expensive flowers of the world, this ‘King of Spices’ has been put to a variety of uses for centuries. These range from a food flavouring to dyeing agent, as an additive in flavoured confectionery & butter to curing human ailments and so on.

World cultivation of saffron is now confined to India, Iran and Spain, with the former lately losing out ever since militancy disrupted life in the most fertile saffron bowl on earth — the Kashmir valley. Here, it is cultivated on a 35,000 acre stretch of land near Pampore, about 16 km south-east of Srinagar. Besides being a source of livelihood for thousands of locals, it’s also the harbinger of trade and commerce worth crores every year.

The saffron plant was originally a native of Iran, and was brought to India by Persian migrants in the pre-Christian era. It is also said that Alexander the Great and his Greek soldiers were so enchanted by saffron that they preferred it to gold to carry back home! Similarly, Akbar after conquering Kashmir was prepared to withdraw only on the condition that the entire saffron belt would continue to belong to him. His successor, Jehangir, even wrote a couplet in its praise: "Nowhere have I seen so much of a rich fragrant crop as here in the valley.

Where the Greeks are there, can the Romans be far behind! If saffron’s fragrance pervaded the Greek courts and banquet halls, its exotic essence prevailed it the Roman theatres and baths too. In fact, the Roman Emperor Nero would order the streets to be sprinkled with saffron before he entered Rome. The Arabian nights extol saffron as an aphrodisiac, for, its allure to women was next only to God.

One thing that has been widely accepted is saffron’s medicinal value. It not only helps cure some typical fevers, melancholia and enlargement of the liver and spleen, but also acts as a stimulant. Hence it is prescribed for stomach and catarrhal infections as also urinary and uterine disorders.

If you’re in Kashmir and offered kahwa, the local brew of tea, rest assured it’ll be flavoured with saffron to give it the typical bitter-sweet taste. Besides tea, the local Kashmiris flavour their rice, gosht, puddings, that’s to say almost everything, with saffron!

The saffron crop’s flowering season lasts for only 4-6 weeks in the months of October-November when the entire stretch turns purple. It’s picturesque sight, with the golden rays sun-bathing the purple stretch of land. The sight of Kashmiri women and children plucking the flowers and then laying them out to dry in the sun is a sheer delight. The full bloom lasts till the cool October wind sweeps the valley and gives it a couple of mild showers.

What is actually harvested is the three yellow stamens and the stigmas of the blue or purple flowers. The crop obtained from the stigmas is the purest and known as ‘Mogra Zafran’, while the stamens yield an inferior and less expensive variety ‘Lacha Zafran’. A hundred kilo of fresh flowers, numbering about 16,000, will yield about 3 kg of the pure crop.

At today’s rates one can get saffron at Rs 30,000 per kg. Be careful to purchase only genuine quality which can be tested by dissolving in warm water or milk and then letting the colour and flavour develop.

Today, the entire produce in the Pampore region is controlled by the Saffron Growers and Traders Association of Kashmir. Though affluent, these traders live and work under a constant fear of the militants who take away almost one-third of their earnings at gunpoint.

Nevertheless, for the connoisseur this golden condiment holds an everlasting aura. The strong exotic aroma of the pungent threads continues to add flavour to cuisin, be it a Mediterranean breakfast, a Continental buffet or Oriental fare. Perhaps, its only drawback is that it has a shelf life of 2-3 years only, after which the flavour diminishes and fragrance dies out.

The proud part is that saffron as a colour pervades our national character. Besides finding a place in the National Flag it is the colour worn by sadhus and saints. Symbolic of sacrifice, saffron was donned by the Rajputs before embarking for any battle and is still revered.

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