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There are a couple of very good recipes for Risotto in the FB Wood-Fired Cooking e-Book, which rely on saffron for color and flavor, so I thought I would post a little background and see what everyone is using at home. I took a few photos of what we have (Spanish), along with a good powdered version.
Saffron is the stigma (little stems) inside a specific type of crocus. I think it is indiginous to the middle east (Iran?), and it has been part of Mediderranean food for centuries. It's a major part of Paella, and saffron Risotto is a classic Italian dish. The crocus naturalized in San Gimignano in the middle ages, and the city now has a saffron festival every year -- and local gardens have the crocus. Our first rental house had a nice garden and the wonderful lady who looked after it plucked and dried her own saffron.
You only get 3 stigma per flower, and you have to gently pull them out. No wonder it's the world's most expensive spice. Luckily, a little goes a long way.
I've tasted saffron from Spain, Italy, India and Iran. There are great saffron displays in the great bazaar in Istanbul, where they have a wide range of types. The Iranian saffron costs more, and the merchants all said it was the best, but it was a little too dusty for me, and I still like Spanish. One cool thing was that a friend and I bought enough stuff from the spice market that he gave us a sample of Iranian caviar that was incredible.
Here in the land of risotto, all of the supermarkets carry a brand of powdered saffron. It's pure saffron, but my guess is that it is the small broken pieces, so it probably isn't perfect. It's like the tea they hide in an English tea bag compared with the perfect tea you can buy loose. Still, it is different from the Spanish "paella spice" mix that is mostly Tumeric.
You can find good Spanish saffron at Trade Joe's in CA.
Where does everyone find it? Is to expensive? Still, it's really worth it. A risotto with carnaroli rice, good saffron and real parmesan (and a couple of Tbs of Danish butter) is truly great.
James
Saffron is the stigma (little stems) inside a specific type of crocus. I think it is indiginous to the middle east (Iran?), and it has been part of Mediderranean food for centuries. It's a major part of Paella, and saffron Risotto is a classic Italian dish. The crocus naturalized in San Gimignano in the middle ages, and the city now has a saffron festival every year -- and local gardens have the crocus. Our first rental house had a nice garden and the wonderful lady who looked after it plucked and dried her own saffron.
You only get 3 stigma per flower, and you have to gently pull them out. No wonder it's the world's most expensive spice. Luckily, a little goes a long way.
I've tasted saffron from Spain, Italy, India and Iran. There are great saffron displays in the great bazaar in Istanbul, where they have a wide range of types. The Iranian saffron costs more, and the merchants all said it was the best, but it was a little too dusty for me, and I still like Spanish. One cool thing was that a friend and I bought enough stuff from the spice market that he gave us a sample of Iranian caviar that was incredible.
Here in the land of risotto, all of the supermarkets carry a brand of powdered saffron. It's pure saffron, but my guess is that it is the small broken pieces, so it probably isn't perfect. It's like the tea they hide in an English tea bag compared with the perfect tea you can buy loose. Still, it is different from the Spanish "paella spice" mix that is mostly Tumeric.
You can find good Spanish saffron at Trade Joe's in CA.
Where does everyone find it? Is to expensive? Still, it's really worth it. A risotto with carnaroli rice, good saffron and real parmesan (and a couple of Tbs of Danish butter) is truly great.
James
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