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Saffron
The dried stigmas of a sterile autumn crocus, hand-picked at roughly 440,000 threads to the kilogram.
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Saffron vs Kebab
Compare Saffron (Iran) and Kebab (Anatolia) side by side — origin, maker, price, materials and what the difference actually means.
The short answer
- Country Iran Anatolia
- Region Khorasan, Iran Middle East / Anatolia
- Made since Cultivated since at least the 7th century BC Ancient, formalized under the Ottoman Empire
- Verified record Yes No
- Source Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Turkey, Iran, Lebanon
Side by side
Download as PDF| Field | Saffron | Kebab |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Iran | Anatolia |
| Type | food | food |
| Maker | — | Ottoman cooks |
| Region | Khorasan, Iran | Middle East / Anatolia |
| Made since | Cultivated since at least the 7th century BC | Ancient, formalized under the Ottoman Empire |
| Verified record | Yes | No |
| Market trend | $934/kg (−33.6% since 2016) | — |
| Source | Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew | Turkey, Iran, Lebanon |
Saffron
Saffron is the dried crimson stigma of Crocus sativus, a plant that cannot reproduce without human hands. Around 440,000 stigmas make one kilogram, every one of them picked by hand during a few October mornings, which is why it has been the world's most expensive spice for most of recorded history. Iran produces around 90 per cent of the global crop, most of it in Khorasan.
- Three stigmas are cut from each flower, by hand.
- About 440,000 dried stigmas make one kilogram, from roughly 150,000 flowers.
- Around forty hours of picking go into a single kilogram.
- The flowers open only in autumn, and are gathered in the early morning.
- Crocus sativus is sterile and has no wild population; every plant is propagated by dividing corms.
Kebab
Grilling meat on skewers over an open fire is an ancient practice across the Middle East, but it was under
- The rotating spit style of döner kebab was developed in 19th-century Ottoman Turkey.
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