Harvest

In which I rescue my poor bedraggled little saffron crocuses from a weekend of heavy rain and pick out the saffron stamens.  Take that $25 bottle of saffron from the supermarket!

I think I’ll make risotto.

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I’ve not yet actually cooked with my home-grown saffron, so if we are all poisoned I’ll make sure someone lets you know…

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Comments

  1. says

    If it poisons you or just doesn’t taste that great, at least it is stunningly beautiful! Impressive.
    And if you ever go back to store-bought, Cost Plus World Market charges a fraction of what other stores do. I took the price tag off of mine, but I believe it was about $5 for the 1 gram package. (And they have whole vanilla beans $2.99 for a pack of 2! I do love me a bargain.)

  2. mlle paradis says

    Wow! You grow your own saffron! That’s a new one on me. How much do the crocuses cost? You were adventurous to grow them in Seattle, aren’t they a hot climate plant? Let us know!
    And thanks to Gypsy for the Cost Plus tip.

  3. says

    I planted these two years ago and they seem to grown pretty well in Seattle. I knew that saffron crocuses used to be grown a lot in England – Cornwall is famous for saffron buns and there’s a place called Saffron Walden in Essex – so I figured that they’d probably grow in Seattle as believe it or not the summers seem to be warmer, drier and quite ‘Mediterranean’ here. I can’t remember where I got the bulbs but I don’t think they were super expensive. They were marked as ‘saffron’ crocuses though and bloom in the autumn.
    They grew well the first year and I harvested the saffron but then forgot to use it! Last year I forgot to check them so I’ve no idea whether they bloomed or not (apparently they only have a two week blooming period). So hopefully this is third time lucky.

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