Saffron. Could This be The World’s Most Expensive Aphrodisiacs?

Saffron is known to be one of the most expensive ingredients in the world and adds that wonderful yellow colour to rice dishes but unfortunately the majority of us can’t afford it and, if you’re like me, you end up using turmeric instead.

However, we can now look forward, for a while at least, to the price of saffron reaching even headier heights!

Canadian researchers believe that saffron is one of just three natural aphrodisiacs.  This is particularly good news for Spain where experts believe the finest saffron is sourced.  Spanish saffron sales had recently gone off the boil somewhat amid allegations that the pure saffron had been adulterated by other ingredients but, with this new found positive “side-effect”, no doubt sales will once again rise to the occasion.

According to Professor Massimo Marcone of Guelph University, saffron beats all in the sex stakes.  He and his team of researchers scrutinised hundreds of ingredients that are commonly believed to be aphrodisiacs and came to the conclusion that only three came out of the research with positive results, one of them being saffron.

The price of good quality saffron currently stands at around £6,000 a kilo (about £3,000 a pound) but this food ingredient isn’t easy to harvest and process.

The wonderful yellowy orange hue is gained from the stigmas of certain breeds of crocus.  250,000 stigmas have to be separated from the crocus flower to produce each kilo of pure saffron.  The work has to be carried out at the crack of dawn to ensure the flower doesn’t lose its colour or its unique aroma in the heat of the sun.

A lot of experts consider that the finest saffron grows on the rocky plains around the Iberian peninsular of Castilla La Mancha and the numerous Michelin starred restaurants in Spain have named this wonder food “red gold” due to it’s rarity and the painstaking work that goes into the harvesting.

The recent publication of this research seems to be extremely well timed for Spanish saffron farmers who have been hit hard financially over the recent past.  When Spain was enjoying an economic boom, Castillians didn’t want the tedious and back-breaking work of collecting the stigmas from the crocuses and preferred to do less strenuous and more highly paid work which has meant that these beautiful and bountiful little flowers have been left, in many places, to grow wild and have subsequently thrived.  However, since the recession people are inclined to take on more menial jobs to make ends meet so this forgotten crop is now literally ripe for the picking!